The Moment of Truth
by Sunechirei
Summary: A killer isn't supposed to have a witness. A psychologist isn't supposed to be kidnapped by the mafia. A detective isn't supposed to lose the trail of his best friend's murderer. So how did all of these things happen, and why does the world seem determined to make the lives of these three so impossibly horrible? AU RikuXOC
1. Tell me would you

**I probably shouldn't be working on this story. I should probably be finishing Something About the Rain, but Kairi and Sora are just so boring there...  
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**Now, I actually started this story a few months back at the end of the summer when my friend, Minora, introduced me to a cool song that inspired this story, plus my little new found fascination with the mafia.**

**But whatever. This is going to be my next project until I get inspiration for SATR again.**

**Read, enjoy, review! Thank you.**

_**Story title: The Moment of Truth (This is War, 30 Seconds to Mars)  
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_**Full Chapter Title: Tell me would you kill to prove you're right? (Hurricane, 30 Seconds to Mars)**_

_**The entire story is dedicated to Minora for her never ending help with song lyrics, character development, ideas, and realism checking :)  
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**_Disclaimer: All characters but ones mentioned later belong to Square Enix/Disney. All songs belong to their respective owners. The plot belongs to me_.  
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><p><strong>Riku<strong>

The only part of this job I really like is the darkness. The lack of light became a perfect cover for someone like me: wearing dark grey, walking quietly, just waiting to take out the unsuspecting target. In the light of day people barely noticed me. I blended into the background and became nothing more than an average pedestrian. Of course, this meant at night, the chances of finding me hiding in the dark alleys became almost impossible.

I loved darkness. It made it so there would be no witnesses. After all, there could be no witnesses. It wasn't allowed.

But tonight wasn't going to work like that, and it made me unsure about the events about to take place. Normally, I worked alone on my missions, and because of this the other living, breathing, human being sitting next to me undercover, waiting for her cue, made me anxious.

Not just anxious; she made me nervous sitting there quietly in her skimpy black dress, picking at the freshly painted nail polish that matched her red hair in color. I couldn't understand how she could be so calm. She'd never done anything like this before. She should be nervous. Everyone was always nervous at first.

"Kairi, are you sure you want to do this? I could figure out another way to-"

"No saying my name," the young woman beside me cooed, smiling to herself. "Remember? Tonight I'm someone else. Someone who's going to help you do your job."

The flirtatious way she spoke scared me slightly. I briefly wondered where my innocent little sister had gone, and when she became a full grown woman completely okay with seducing a man so I could kill him.

I tried to talk to her again, but she shushed me and moved her eyes so she could watch the entrance to the building. Knowing my sister had become dead set on finishing this job with me, I sighed and followed her eyes. Too many lights illuminated the door, and I felt a nasty pang in my stomach. These people were wasting so much energy trying to make the night, day. They should just leave the darkness alone. Let midnight be midnight.

But I couldn't think about that. Or anything. My target should have been in sight already. I didn't have time to be worrying about anything other than where he could possibly be.

The two of us were camped out in a completely desolate building. The complete opposite of the one we were watching. You'd think that with where we were, this place would be a little nicer, seeing as where we were in the city. I'm sure it used to be when I was younger; probably some kind of office building.

Things changed in this city though, and not always for the best.

Not that I really had a reason to complain. It had become an excellent stakeout spot. No one came in here, it the insulation worked, so the temperature stayed consistent no matter what time of year, the rooms, while empty, weren't horrible, and it had the best view in all the city of Central Square.

You could see everything important here, especially in the room Kairi and I were camped out in. This floor, in the middle of the building, had a perfect view of all the buildings on the block. Which meant no one of importance could escape my view. All the good business men, the bad ones, the sleezy ones, and best of all: all the politicians going in and out of City Hall.

The building we had our eyes on.

"Where is he?" Kairi whined, flicking her hair over her shoulder. "I thought he was supposed to be done with his work an hour ago." She leaned against my arm with a sigh. "Does it always take this long?"

"Most of the time," I muttered, pushing her away. She needed to focus on the job. That's all she needed to do. At first she didn't seem happy that I wouldn't allow her near me, but she eventually gave in, going to think about the important things I wanted her to focus on.

This silence hardly lasted long, however, and she eventually moaned, "This is the most boring job in the world! You should talk to Onkel. Maybe he'll give you another one." She reached over and patted me somewhat affectionately on the head, which of course caused me to glare at her. She wasn't taking this seriously. I wondered if she actually could take it seriously.

"I don't want another job. This one suits me perfectly," I told her, trying hard not to raise my voice. This wasn't the first time we'd had this conversation.

"No it doesn't! You're too kind. Too gentle. You shouldn't be doing this job, R-"

"There he is." I didn't want to talk about it.

Kairi shut up immediately and glanced out the window, eyes wide. He stood there, alone, talking on his phone like some kind of idiot. Which, of course, he is. It wasn't easy to miss him as he stood in front of City Hall, chatting away. A perfect target.

I motioned to Kairi that it was time and the two of us stood up quietly. We headed out of the building, Kairi going first, and me following, even though that didn't seem right at all. She would head out before me by a few minutes, find the target, seduce him, then I would follow the two of them to the meeting place. That was the plan. But I hated it.

I hated letting her be in danger like that.

When we reached the first floor, I gestured that Kairi should go on ahead. I would follow soon. She nodded and pushed opened the door to the chilly spring night.

I watched quietly from inside the building as Kairi nearly skipped across the street to where the target stood. He spotted her in an instant and hung up his phone, those lustful eyes staring at her small body in an obsessive manner. All of _us_ knew he would take the bait.

I closed my eyes, thinking about how sick this entire thing was. That man deserved what he was about to get. For both the reason the boss gave, and the reason I couldn't help but think of.

By her side in an instant, he talked to her in what I could only put in the category of flirtatious. Even though I couldn't hear their conversation, I could tell that he wanted to have her. Not that I should have been paying attention. I should have been too busy making sure that I had everything I needed, but watching his greedy hands move to her waist and pull her along the street to a darker area made my eyes narrow.

It wouldn't have been easy to follow them if I hadn't been trained to stalk people. Kairi made sure to be quiet enough that no one really noticed her. She would just be another prostitute that _he_ took off with. Just another mysterious girl to mess with his wife's head.

Finally, the two of them came to a stop in an extremely excluded portion of the city. There were very few street lights, the only ones a few meters away on the back street, which made it dark. Just the way it should be.

"You're one pretty girl," I heard him say. "I don't think I caught your name. What is it?"

Kairi giggled and pressed herself up against him. "I don't think my name's that important. I don't even know yours." There was a lilt to her voice that I'd never heard before. She was really good at this. Maybe the boss could get her a job as an actress. Get her out of this life.

"You can just call me Terra. That's all of my name you need to know," he growled playfully. Kairi laughed again, but it was clear by the lilt in her voice she felt the same way I did. Disgusted. Too bad he didn't seem to notice.

Well, too bad for him, anyway.

"Terra huh?" she asked, giggling. "That name sounds familiar. Aren't you some famous politician? You want to make the gun and drug laws a hell of a lot stricter. Make it nearly impossible to own or obtain either in this little city of ours." Even in the dark I could see a grin spread across her face. "Make it really hard for my family to do business." The last sentence came out in a sadistic whisper.

"Yeah, that's me." Terra didn't even seem to notice what she said at first, and he brushed some of her auburn hair out of her face. It looked like he was going to lean it for a kiss, but then it hit him. He pushed the grinning Kairi away in a second and examined her. When he noticed the signature blue eyes of the Strife family, he shoved her away and stumbled back. "You...?"

That's when I cocked my gun and walked out of the shadows.

He had barely moved an inch when he saw me and my weapon. I found great satisfaction as the smug look on his face melted into one of absolute fear and realization, and he froze in place. He must have known that it would only be a matter of time before we came after him. He'd been warned before. Cloud made sure of that. And yet he continued to vote the way he did, make the propositions that would make the boss suffer.

None of _us_ would stand for that.

I walked toward him without saying a word. I didn't need to talk. He knew who I was.

"You guys... I didn't think you were serious," he muttered, backing against the wall. I only watched as he slid to the ground, and Kairi skipped so that she was hiding behind my back. Out of the way. "You can't be serious. I... I'll do whatever you want. I promise." His voice became annoying in a second. "I'll vote the way you guys want me to. Just... give your boss a message that I'll do what he wants now. You don't need to kill me."

I hated it when they pleaded with me. It made me sick to my stomach. Especially guys like this who probably thought he would get everything he wanted by just telling me what _I_ wanted.

"Please, don't kill me."

I decided to toy with him. I lowered my gun slightly, like I was giving in to his demands. It would be fun to watch his look of complete terror in a few minutes. He let out a sigh of relief, just as Kairi asked me quietly what I was doing.

"Thank you. I'll remember that you spared my life, and I'll do whatever you guys want me to-"  
>"It's a little too late for bargaining," I hissed suddenly, raising my gun again.<p>

There it was. The look of terror.

Then I shot him. The silencer made it nearly impossible to hear the four homemade bullets escape my gun, but the blood spilling out of his body made it clear he'd been shot. Three times in the chest. Once in the head. A kill shot. Just to make sure he would actually die. I never made the mistake of letting a target live.

I watched, satisfied, as the light from his eyes died out, and his body went limp. The perfect job. No one would know it was me who did it. I changed my signature every time, so they couldn't connect it to another kill, and no one would be able to put me here on this night. Both Kairi and I had air tight alibi's.

They wouldn't be able to do anything.

That's when I heard it. A clattering in the street next to the alley. Instantly my head whipped around to see what was going on, gun falling by my side.

A young woman stood there, probably a little older than Kairi, with wide eyes. She wore clothes that would be good for a run, but at night? It didn't make any sense. I must have been hallucinating.

But when Kairi suddenly whipped out her phone and dialed a number, telling me to do something, I knew it wasn't.

Someone had seen what just occurred.

A witness.

My first witness.

At first, she didn't move, and I thought she was shocked into complete stasis. But then she began stumbling backwards, eyes never leaving us. I knew then that she would have to be dealt with.


	2. Truth is you can stop and stare

**Normally I'll post a chapter a week, but I figured it'll be nicer for people to be able to read more than one chapter to get into this story, seeing as I had one review and no one favorite/story alert this story... So yeah :D**

**Read, Review, Enjoy. **

**~Sunechirei  
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**_Full Chapter Title: Truth is you can stop and stare, run yourself out and no one cares (Bleed it Out, Linkin Park)  
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**_Minora changed her name. Her name is Fukuoo. (I think I got the spelling right. Too lazy to check). So that's who the story is dedicated to._**

**_Ellie and Ariadne are original characters. Ellie belongs to me, Ariadne to Fukuoo.  
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><p><strong>Ellie<em><br>_**

The night air is pretty nice, I have to admit. Even though it was really late. Midnight late. No one came out at this time, so I didn't have to worry about traffic, or people on bikes, or walkers, or getting barked at by dogs. Nothing could bug me and my run when the sun set behind the large buildings of the city. It was a little bit chilly, as spring nights in Traverse City usually are, and I wished I had brought a coat, but the cold didn't really seem to hinder me.

Of course, things rarely hindered me when I ran. I'd been doing it since I was seven, and I hadn't stopped for more than a few days during the sixteen and a half years since then. Even when it snowed I tried to get at least an hour of running a day in.

It was my stress reliever.

Because of this I always managed to stay relatively calm and clear headed, which people envied me for.

Though annoying at times, it's not like I minded them being jealous of me. It's the only thing I had going for me. Plus, it helped during exams, and let me tell you: psychology exams are a bitch. They do everything in their power to fuck with you and make you frustrated enough that you fail them.

I didn't have that problem at all.

And yet, for some reason, I couldn't find a job. Top of my class, and no practice was willing to hire me. I would open my own, and maybe find some way to advertise that I was a therapist who was willing to help.

Only problem with that is I had no money, and no building.

I didn't even have my own home. I had to stay with my best friend, Ariadne, while I looked for a place to live.

Note why I was currently running through the back streets of downtown Traverse City. Alone. I could think better when I was breathing heavily, my pulse racing and sweat dripping down my brow, and of course when I was alone. When other people were with me I felt the need to talk to them.

I had a lot I needed to think about, so talking with other people wasn't exactly high on my list of things to do.

But of course, my luck hates me, and decided that I needed to have a conversation with someone.

I barely heard my phone ring, but I did manage somehow to hear the strange ring tone Ariadne picked out for me, and I groaned. I always forgot to turn off my phone when I went for a run. You'd think I'd learn.

I slowed to a fast walk and reached for the phone in my pocket and pulled it out. It was, of course, Ariadne. Really she was the only one who had my phone number. With a sigh, I picked it up and began walking slowly, hoping to catch my breath as I spoke to her.

"Yeah?"

"Hey! I was wondering where you were and if you were going to be back soon," she said in her quiet voice. I rolled my eyes, wondering how a person could talk so quietly.

"I should be back soon. I'm on that weird back street that parallels Main, and I think I'm really close to City Hall," I replied, checking my pulse with the hand that wasn't holding my phone to my ear. "It shouldn't take me that long to run home."

"Great. I just wanted to check because I need to leave and I didn't want you to think anything happened to me while you were out." I stopped walking, barely aware of a man's voice to my right. How like Ariadne to think that I would care if she was there or not. My plan was just to get into my bed and sleep for the next ten hours. I didn't have work the next day, so it didn't matter.

"Right. Well, thanks for telling me and-" Something caught my eye and I turned to see what was going on. My voice stopped working as I watched a man laying against the wall, pleading with another. The one standing, the one with silver hair, held a gun. Standing behind him, a woman. A teen, probably. I couldn't see any of the faces, but I could clearly see the weapon.

"Ellie? You there?"

Then there were shots. Muffled shots. I'd never actually held a gun before, but I knew from the movies that he probably had a silencer on it. The man went limp. I saw the blood dripping down his somewhat recognizable face. I was too far away to really make out who he was, though.

Before I knew what was happening, my body stopped working, and my phone fell from my hand. It clattered on the pavement loudly, and of course, the sound echoed throughout the alleyway. Immediately the two living people looked up at me.

They were just as unmoving as I was for a minute, staring at me with shock. Clearly, they weren't expecting someone to see what just happened. Then the girl moved. She reacted faster than the man standing next to her, taking out her phone. He continued to watch me, eyes slightly shadowed by the long silver bangs that hung in his face. But I knew his eyes were staring straight at my own.

I suddenly feared for my life. Without waiting another moment, I stumbled backwards, not caring that my phone had fallen in a storm drain. I had to get to the police. Tell them what I saw. They would protect me from whatever these guys were going to do to me.

But I didn't get very far. The man across the street reacted the moment I started moving, but he wasn't the one who got to me. Someone behind me grabbed my waist and pushed something against my mouth. A damp cloth. It had this weird smell to it, and as I struggled against the really strong arms that held me in place, I began to feel really tired.

My mind clouded, and my vision blurred as I sank to the ground, but I could still see the man who'd just killed standing over me. He was panting slightly, and looking down at me with extremely blue eyes.

A color of blue that you don't see very often in Traverse City. The trademark of the Strife family. The heads of the Traverse City mafia.

I couldn't believe my luck.

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><p>"You can't be serious. We're taking her to the boss? Why not just kill her now?"<p>

"Because the boss told me not to. He wants to meet her."

"She's a witness. There's no way in hell I'm just going to let her live-"

"You want to go against the boss?"

"..."

Kill someone? A girl. They wanted to take her to meet their boss. But who were they? Who was this girl? What did she witness? I couldn't really think straight. Everything was whirring about in my head. I tried to stir, but I couldn't move my hands. There was something binding them together. Something sticky.

Tape?  
>My arms were also bound, but I didn't think they were tied by the same things as my hands. It was most likely rope. I was tied up. By tape and rope. Even my mouth was covered with something, making it impossible for me to speak.<p>

A sudden thought dawned on me.

Could I be the witness? Was I the girl they wanted to kill?

Then I remembered what I saw. The man killing another man in cold blood.

_I am the one they're talking about!_

My eyes flew open, and I began struggling. Not that it did anything. They had me blind folded and tied up so tightly that I could barely move at all. But I was able to move enough that they noticed me.

"She's awake? Shit! I knocked her out with chloroform. That shit should keep her knocked out until tomorrow at least!"

"She's a runner, obviously. Her metabolism is probably faster than most of the people we deal with." There were only two guys here. There were probably more somewhere else, but only two were talking. And they were talking about me.

"Oh shut up with your mumbo jumbo, Snipe. Just knock her out again."

A hand suddenly came down on my face. It was cold, and I squeaked, trying to squirm away. Then there was a quiet voice by my ear, a voice I assumed was Snipe's.

"Don't move," he whispered. "Just be calm and I won't have to hurt you. Got it?" There was something about his voice that I recognized, but at the same time, I had no idea who he could be. "I don't think we need to knock her out again. We're almost there, and she isn't able to get out of her restraints." He sighed. "I still think we should just dispose of her now. She's a witness. What's the boss gonna do with her anyway?"

Well, so much for being nice.

"Mm," I tried to speak through the thing in my mouth. I wasn't going to be able to speak for myself. I couldn't even see.

"No point in talking, sweetheart," Snipe said. I heard him shift, and suddenly I was being lifted up. Only my torso though. He put me in a sitting position and I realized we were moving. Probably in a van, heading to wherever their headquarters were. This wasn't good. I'd grown up with stories about the mafia in our city, and none of them were good.

All of them were nasty, horrible, terror stories about how hostages never lived, politicians who went against them were tortured and then killed.

"What are you doing Snipe?" The other man asked.

"We're almost there. I don't think she needs to be blindfolded anymore, at least." I felt to arms brush past my face, reaching for the back of my head. Though aware of a body quite close to mine, I didn't know who it could be, and the fear had become too strong for me to want to know.

They were going to kill me.

The fabric covering my eyes fell away quickly. At first I couldn't see anything because it was so bright, but when the light faded, I could clearly see that it was the one who I'd seen before. Silver hair, unmistakable blue eyes. Was this Snipe? I could imagine that. His voice sounded like it belonged to this body.

"You gonna remove her gag too?" The other guy in the van was hidden in the shadows, so I could see him very well, but I guessed that he was the one who'd knocked me out. It was the only logical explanation.

"Dunno. Will you scream if I let you talk?" he asked me. I thought it was a stupid question. Of course I would scream. I was being kidnapped by members of the mafia. Those people never lived. But I shook my head. There was no point in telling the truth.

"Good," Snipe said, reaching around my head again, "because if you do scream, I'm going to have no choice but to hurt you. Make it impossible for you to talk, much less scream." He sounded serious. His eyes were completely cold as he stared into mine, and they were dangerous. He was not happy with me, and he clearly wanted me dead, and yet he didn't want me to be hurt.

Or, that's what it seemed like to me.

The cloth that was in my mouth was removed suddenly, and I acted. By biting Snipe on the arm. It was completely disgusting, but it certainly got an effect out of my captor. He yelped and let go of me, allowing me to fall back against the side of the moving van, and began cursing. I tried to move away from him, but he grabbed me by the collar and shoved me against the side of the van.

"What the fuck?" He growled, face really close to mine. The other man in the van seemed to be scared. I must have picked the wrong person to mess with.

"You said I couldn't scream," I snapped back, not exactly sure where my voice was coming from. "You never said anything about biting." Anger flashed in his eyes, and his hand not holding onto my collar smacked me across the face. I was surprised, but I didn't act on it, so he let me go. I slid to the floor of the van.

"Don't mess with me. I'm not in the mood to let you live right now, and I will kill you. Got it?" Again, I felt a pang of fear.

"I think you should calm down, Snipe," the other man in the van said. "Mr. Boss won't appreciate it if this little girl is hurt." But why? I saw them kill a guy. Shouldn't their boss want me dealt with as soon as possible. Snipe seemed to be thinking the same thing, as he asked the question I wanted to voice.

The other man laughed. I got a better look at him now. He had red hair, tattoos under his green eyes. He watched me intently, like he was curious about me. I shrunk back. There was this look in his eye that made me feel nervous.

Snipe walked to the other side of the van and sat down, completely ignoring me. He nursed the hand I'd bitten, despite there being no visible blood. He must have been a wimp or something.

"We're almost there," Snipe snapped suddenly, glaring at me. "I don't feel like carrying that, so untie her legs. It'll be faster." He really just called me a that. Really? I closed my eyes, trying hard not to scream in frustration at both being kidnapped like this, and at being kidnapped by a bunch of idiots.

"Fine. But if she kicks me, I'm gonna have both your heads on a platter. Got it memorized?"

"Whatever." The rope around my legs became loose, and I really considered kicking the strange redhead, but he seemed serious about his threat.

The van pulled to a stop very suddenly, and the weird redhead yanked me to my feet. I was still a little off because of whatever drug they used to knock me out. Snipe slid open the door and the blindfold was replaced over my eyes.

"What-" I started to say, but a large hand clamped over my mouth. The other hand of my attacker grabbed my wrists and shoved me out of the van. I nearly tripped over the edge, but someone caught me. I recognized the smell of the shirt pressed into my face. It was Snipe, which was weird. I would have expected him to just let me fall, based on the way he'd been treating me earlier.

"You'd think that as a runner she'd have better balance," Snipe muttered. His voice vibrated my chest, and I tried to pull away from him, but his hands grabbed my wrists and kept me in place. "You aren't going anywhere, missy. The boss wants to talk to you."

"Well, I don't care," I growled, pretty sure I was facing him. It would make sense, as his hands were wrapped around my upper arms. I was then dragged down some kind of path, and up some stairs, before entering what I assumed was a restaurant. The smell of spiced food immediately made me think Indian, which is known by everyone to be Xemnas' Strife's favorite food.

After a few minutes of allowing myself to be dragged through the kitchen – I could hear knives, and sizzling pans, and orders being shouted out – we entered a smaller room, and my blindfold was, once again, taken off. My eyes didn't have time to adjust to the dim light before Snipe shoved me forward. I stumbled, and fell to the ground.

Groaning, I sat up and looked around to see where I was.

A private room, obviously.

Sitting in the very middle, behind a table, enjoying his meal, was an elderly man with pure white hair, a sallow looking face, and dangerous yellow eyes. I assumed it was Xemnas. Leader of the Traverse Town Mafia by marriage. He was always in the news; being falsely accused of murder, drug dealings, black market alcohol, assassinations, and other things like that. Not a single adult in Traverse City didn't know his name and face.

I felt myself pale.

Standing erect next to him were two people, both wearing suits. One was the redhead from the van, and the other was slightly smaller with the signature blue eyes of the Strife family and blond hair. Neither of them were looking at me. In fact, all eyes were on the man standing over me.

"Why, if it isn't my young nephew, Riku. I assume you've completed your mission," Xemnas said after dabbing at his mouth with his napkin. I glanced over at my kidnapper. It hadn't occurred to me that "Snipe" would be his false name.

"Yes sir, I have," Sn-Riku said calmly. It had been his mission to kill that man. And I had seen it. This wasn't good at all. I breathed out quietly, trying to relieve my stress. If only I could go on a run. That would help me a little.

"Axel here tells me that this young woman here witnessed you complete your mission." Xemnas' voice turned violently cold, and I saw Riku flinch a little bit. He nodded. "Well, I can't have that. Tell me, my nephew, what happened that you were so careless as to have this girl see?" The man gestured to me, but his eyes never left Riku.

I glanced up at my captor for a minute, and was shocked to see he was looking down at me. I felt myself blush. Yeah, he was a coldblooded killer, but that didn't stop the fact that he was really good looking.

Why do all the good ones have to be insane?

"Everything was going as planned. Kairi led Terra into a back alley, and I took him out. It was really late, and really dark, so neither of us thought that anyone would be out. But then I heard her-" he jerked his head in my direction, "- drop something. She tried to run away, but that's when Axel appeared out of nowhere and knocked her out." Xemnas nodded.

"I see."

"I was all for taking her out as well, but both Axel and Kairi told me that you wanted to see her, so here she is." He sounded snippity. Irritated. I wondered how he would be able to get away with that tone with this man.

There was a moment of terrifying silence before Xemnas placed his fork on the table and looked down at me. I met his gaze, trying hard not to show my fear. This was just like when I was a child. Just like that moment before Mom died, when that man watched me with the intent to kill.

"So... This young lady saw what you did?" Something clattered as the boss picked up his fork again. I couldn't figure out why he was eating such a hearty meal so late. But I didn't voice my question. "How could you be so foolish?" He asked, glaring at Riku again. "And you, Miss Kairi. I allow you to live with the benefits of our family because your father begged me to, but now that he's dead, I don't honestly care. Make another mistake like this and I'm going to have to deal with you."

The girl who was with Riku when he shot the man flinched and looked down at her feet. She didn't seem comfortable at all, and I didn't blame her. But instead of feeling fear, I began to wonder what was going on in this family. It seemed different than I had imagined.

"And you," Xemnas' voice was directed at me. "What were you doing at that place so late at night? Are you a cop? Have you been following my people, trying to get us on something." He was nervous. Which wasn't something you would normally see in a mafia boss. I'd spent a semester studying the psychology behind groups such as mafias. The boss never showed fear.

I couldn't seem to find my voice at first, but then Riku grabbed my arm and yanked me to my feet, whispering in my ear, "Answer him, you idiot."

Idiot. He'd called me an idiot. That jackass!

But I followed his command, despite the fact that every bone in my body was telling me not to.

"I'm not a cop," I muttered. "I was going for a run because I was stressed." When no one moved or said anything, I sighed. "When I'm stressed I run so that I can calm down. Is that some kind of crime?" And of course, my natural snarkyness just had to come out.

"Unfortunately, it's not a crime, Xemnas said, smiling. "Otherwise I'd have you jailed for insanity and make it so people will never believe what you tell them." That didn't quite make sense to me, but it still seemed like a viable threat. "Now, what's your name?"

I looked at my feet. "None of your business," I snapped. Which it wasn't. They were just going to kill me anyway.

"Oh? You're not going to tell me?" No one seemed to have moved during our entire conversation. The only reason I knew we weren't alone was that Riku's hand was still gripped on my upper arm, keeping me from falling to my knees. He had really big hands...

"No."

"Shame. I could have used you. Not that it would have mattered. You seem like the kind who would tell the police what you saw." Xemnas shook his head sadly, then returned to his meal. "Sephiroth, would you mind dealing with her? I don't really want to wait."

A man I hadn't seen before walked out from behind Xemnas' chair, holding a sheathed sword. So I was going to die by stabbing. That sounded wonderful.

That was when Riku let go of my arm and I slid to the ground again, not sure if I should continue to stand or not. Sitting felt more like something I should do. I watched as the man, Sephiroth, pulled the long sword out of it's case, and felt something I never had before. The shining blade reminded me of when my father committed suicide ten years ago, the blood pooling around his body, the gleaming blade sticking out of his chest, and I realized something.

I was going home. I was going to see my mother and my father. I would be with them finally. I smiled, and closed my eyes, just waiting for the pain to come. I wasn't afraid. This would be the best thing for me, after all.

I could actually be happy.

Ariadne wouldn't have to deal with my madness.

Maybe the cops would realize who killed me and they would get jailed.

Maybe things would become better once I was dead.

"Sephiroth, wait a moment." My eyes snapped open as this was said, and I looked up right into the tip of the blade. He'd almost stabbed me though the heart. But he hadn't yet. Xemnas was standing now, watching me with utmost curiosity.

"Sir?"

I locked eyes with Xemnas, knowing that there was something going on in that head of his that I didn't understand. He seemed to know something.

"You're smiling," he said, addressing me. "I just ordered you to be killed, and you're smiling."

I let out a small laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"You live on fear of people. You control them that way. You get some kind of satisfaction when people beg for their lives, or cry, or shake, or show some kind of reaction when they realize they're going to die. All of you get that. It's sick." I paused, knowing that this was angering Xemnas and everyone around him. "But guess what? I'm not afraid to die."

And that's when I blacked out.


	3. I'm not prepared

**Don't have much to say. I'm not feeling well. Just read, enjoy, and review please. Thank you.**

**~Sunechirei  
><strong>

**_Full Chapter Title: I am not prepared to be strong_ (Losing You, Dead By April)**

* * *

><p><strong>Ven<strong>

Normally the night's silent. Even around here, the very center of our city, it was usually quiet this late at night. Or, I guess this early in the morning. It was about three AM when I got the call that Senator Terra had been shot to death in an alley. An hour later, a crime scene unit, an ambulance, four police cars, and a blockade appeared almost out of thin air. This was the case that pulled all of us off our other cases.

We had to find out who would kill Senator Terra, and why. We knew he had a lot of enemies, but none of them seemed to want him dead. Or, he hadn't told me of any death threats, and you'd think he would, being my best friend and all. But Terra had always been secretive.

I let out a sigh and leaned down next to the body of my dead friend, hoping to see something that the others missed. He lay there, eyes open, hands sprawled out, dried blood crusting his face and white t-shirt, and a partially undone belt and zipper, like he'd been about to get some. Typical Terra. Couldn't resist the ladies.

I had a few good theories about what happened. It might have been a girl Terra went too far with and she got scared and pulled a gun; or the girl could have been some kind of bait for a hit man. That one seemed more likely. Based on the evidence at the scene, this entire thing was planned.

Mainly because there was no evidence.

"Ven, there's nothing more we can gather here," my partner, Aqua, said quietly, touching my arm. "There are no prints, the bullets are homemade and can't be traced, no other hints of DNA, no footprints to match with anything, and definitely no witnesses. There's nothing we can do right now. We might as well go home."

I shook my head and pushed her away. I had to figure out what was going on. I at least needed some kind of idea what happened. The medic said he'd been dead since about midnight, then was found three hours later by a prostitute who was trying to escape from one of her clients. But what happened before that? Who would want him dead so badly that they would shoot him four times?

I knew that he'd left his office a little before midnight, three hours later than normal, and a few witnesses said that they'd seen him leading a unrecognizable girl back this way, but that was it. No gun shots had been heard, no one had been around to see anything. Terra clearly hadn't put up a fight, and whoever did this did and excellent job cleaning up.

They doused him in bleach, cleaned his skin, making sure that there was no evidence other than the body.

What didn't make sense to me was why they didn't just take the body with them. It would have been easier to dispose of him in another place and get rid of all evidence without us being any wiser.

They must have wanted us to find the body. Wanted to send a message.

"Ven, you really need sleep. There are going to be people here all night so you don't have to worry about it being tampered at all. Okay?" Aqua said. I couldn't understand how she was so calm. Our best friend had just been killed. And not just her best friend either.

"Fine," I snapped, pulling out my phone. "But I will be back here eventually." I turned away from her and dialed the one number I hated dialing. Captain Sora Hikari did not like to be disturbed this late at night. He was definitely a day kind of guy.

"Detective Ven, why are you calling me?" Captain Hikari answered in a groggy voice.

"Just calling to report that there are no leads on the senator's case, Sir. We have absolutely nothing." There was silence on the other end, then a deep sigh.

"Go home, detective. Get some sleep. I'll do a press release in the morning. Maybe someone knows something that they aren't telling us, or that they don't know is connected to this case. Understand?" I nodded, then remembered I was on the phone.

"Yes sir. I understand."

"Good." Then he hung up. Captain Hikari knew if I didn't have a direct order to go home, I never would. I would stay at this scene until forensics took everything they needed and the scene was cleaned up. Even then, I would probably go revisit the scene every day until I figured out who killed him.

Slowly, I closed my phone and slipped it in my coat pocket. There was only so much I could do right now, so I figured I should head back to the office and work on the case file, see if there were patterns that we missed the first time. Maybe Leon found some connection to another case. That would give us a lead. A good lead.

"Come on Ven," Aqua's quiet voice said as she placed a hand on my shoulder. "I'll drive you home, okay?"

"No. Take me to the office," I demanded, walking towards her car.

"But you need sleep!"  
>"I need to figure out who killed Terra. Then I'll sleep." My voice was harsher than I meant it to be. "I'm sorry. Just... I need to know why this happened." I was the best detective in the city. If I couldn't figure out what happened here, then no one would be able to, and Terra would never be able to rest.<p>

"Alright."

The drive to the office was a silent one. Neither of us seemed to know what we should say to one another. Aqua and I had been partners for seven years, so we both knew when it was time to be silent. Now was definitely one of those times. Our best friend had just been murdered. We had nothing to connect anyone to the murder. Terra had too many enemies to list.

This wasn't going well at all.

When Aqua dropped me off at the police station, she offered to come in with me and help, but I just slammed the door in her offer. She needed sleep more than I did. She didn't just lose a friend, after all.

She'd also lost a husband.

A cheating, skunkbag of a husband, but they still loved each other.

Another reason I had to figure out who killed him. I wasn't just going to let my partner wonder who killed her husband for the rest of her life. It wasn't right at all.

My office was dark when I entered it, and I wished I could keep it that way. Which was extremely rare for me. I hated the dark. Nothing good ever seemed to happen when the lights were off. People got hurt, died, stole, cheated... all in the cover of the night.

It was sickening.

So I turned on a light, hoping that maybe if I did this would all go away. Maybe when the sun came up this all would be so much better. No one would be dead. Aqua and Terra would both be at home, waking up to take care of their newborn baby boy, Vanitus. I would be working on another case, probably one about some robbery or something. That's what I wanted to happen when the sun came up. When the darkness went away.

There would be no press release tomorrow. Terra would come visit me and Aqua like normal for a small lunch before he went off to deal with people who disagreed with his thought process.

That's what would happen when the sun came up. That's what was normal. When the sun came up, Terra wouldn't be dead. He would be happy and joking around with me, saying that he joined the corrupt part of the justice system while I joined the good part and it was my job to keep him in line.

I wish I had kept him in line. Maybe if I had convinced him earlier that cheating on Aqua all the time would get him killed, he would have listened to me.

And he wouldn't have four bullets in his body.

* * *

><p><em>"Last night, around midnight, Senator Terra was found shot to death in an alley connecting Main and Hallow. The police have no leads, no suspects, and no witnesses to this murder. We're <em>_assuming that it was one of the senator's many enemies who became fed up with his way of voting, but that is just an assumption. _

_"Earlier, an interview with Sora Hikari, captain of the police force, revealed that Detective Ven will be in charge of the investigation. Whether or not the senator's wife, Aqua, will be helping is unclear. _

_"If anyone has any information, please call the tip line at 555-XXX-XXXX or visit the police station with any information regarding this case. The police are doing everything in their power to put this horrible creature behind bars, but they need your help. So if you heard or saw anything last night, May 15__th__, around midnight near the alley way connecting Main and Hallow, please let them know. All information could be useful."_

This was playing over and over on the news the next morning. Every single channel. It was a huge deal with the senator had been murdered. Captain Hikari didn't release anything about how many times he'd been shot, or that the bullets had been homemade so we couldn't trace the gun. We didn't even know what gun. It must have had a silencer on it, because someone would have heard the shots if it didn't.

I was becoming so frustrated with this stupid case. Nothing was going right. None of the leads made sense. I had an interrogation in a few hours, but I didn't think this guy was capable of murder. He sent a nasty note to Terra a few weeks back, but he didn't seem to threaten him. Just told him that what he was voting for was going to ruin our country.

That's what all of his hate mail was like.

Well, the ones that we know about.

I was almost one hundred percent sure that at least one of the Mafia groups in our city weren't exactly pleased with the things Terra proposed. He was against guns, and drugs, and stricter laws against people who formed groups, like a mafia. There's no way they didn't have a beef with him.

But which one?

I sighed and lay my head on my desk table, listening as the news report was replayed. Again.

_"Last night around midnight..."_

There had to be something that we missed.

_"The police have no leads, no suspects, no witnesses..."_

I needed to change that. No one like it when the police were clueless. The public, the politicians, us. It was one of the hardest things to do.

_"If anyone has any information..."_

That was enough for me. I grabbed the clicker to the police TV and turned it off. I didn't hear a single complaint from my fellow officers, which was rare, but to be expected. They didn't want to be reminded of what they weren't able to do.

"Ven, you've been up all night. I think you should go home," Yuffie said to me suddenly. I didn't even know why she was there. It was her week off, but I guess the young cop was too excited to let this one slip between her fingers. I wished she would just go home though, and leave me alone. She kept bugging me to leave.

But I couldn't.

"Yuffie, you know that I can't leave yet. I haven't figured out why he left his office so late."

"He was probably just working on something. You know Terra. He's an overachiever."

"Or he was with another woman," Aqua muttered suddenly from behind me. I flinched, and glanced over at her. She had always acted like she was okay with Terra's cheating on her all the time, but I knew she wasn't. She just didn't want to lose him.

But now she had.

None of us knew how to respond to that statement. She was probably right, after all.

"We won't know for sure until they investigate his office, okay?" I said reassuringly. "I'm sure he was just there late because he wanted to make sure that all of his papers were in order before the big debate next week. You know how he is. He likes everything to be perfect." Aqua didn't seem to hear what I was saying, so I let out a sigh.

This was all too complicated for me. None of this should have happened.

"Aqua, do you have the list of suspects with you?" I asked, pushing through some of the papers on my desk. "I can't seem to find it."

I glanced over at her as she shook her head, but I didn't believe her. I'm sure she thought that she didn't have the list, but she'd been forgetting a lot of things since we found out about Terra. It took me two hours to convince Captain Hikari to keep her on the case, but I was beginning to regret it. Vanitus was home right now with Aqua's cousin, Namine, but I began thinking that she should probably be there with him.

"Aqua... If this... if this is too hard for you, you can always go home, you know. The captain will understand, and so will I," I said, placing a hand on her arm. She shook it off.

"Don't mock me, Ven," she snapped. "I'm fine. I need to find out who killed my husband. Nothing will stop me from doing that." She stood up suddenly, then grabbed her gun from the desk. "I'm going to go out and see if I can get anymore information."

Without another word she took off out of the building, leaving me and Yuffie confused.

"I think she needs to be off the team," Yuffie said quietly. "She's irrational."

"Yeah, I know. But I can't bear to tell her that."

"You need to."

"I know, I know! You don't need to remind me every few seconds!"

"Apparently I do, because you're not doing it. Go chase her down, right now and tell her that she can't be on the case. Get the captain to agree with you. We're not going to get anywhere with her pouting like this!"

"She just lost her husband-"

"Who's a jackass and, in my opinion, deserved what he got," Yuffie snapped, slamming her hands on my desk. "Aqua's my best friend and he's done nothing but hurt her. He thinks that just because he's famous, and a politician, and can make laws and what not that he can bang whoever the hell he wants, but he doesn't seem to realize how much it hurts Aqua."

"But that doesn't mean she won't be upset-"

"Of course she'll be upset. But what else can we do? I don't think she's going to be able to focus on this case. Imagine if it was Aqua who was killed? Would you be able to do it?" I looked away from my fellow detective and shook my head.

"Nah. I would see culprits everywhere I go. Nothing would make sense to me."

"Exactly."

"But Yuffie," I said calmly, standing, "wouldn't that logic apply to me in this situation as well? Terra's my best friend, and Aqua's always been able to keep a clearer head than me. If she won't be able to stay on this case, then I can't either, and we're the best there is. There's no way the mayor will just let us stop working on this case, much less the captain."

It was true. Aqua and I were known as the dream team. We'd known each other since birth, gone to school together, entered the academy together, and naturally I'd fallen for her, so we could read each other so well that we didn't need to talk to do our jobs.

The captain wanted Aqua off at first because he didn't think that she would be able to do her job correctly, but I knew that wasn't true. She was different than I was. She would be able to keep a clear head and figure out who did this.

"Ugh! You're so pathetic, Ven. Just because you're lovey dovey inside for Aqua doesn't mean that you can let her do whatever she wants. She shouldn't be on this case!"

"That's enough," I growled, standing up. "You're new to the force, Yuffie. You don't know how any of this works. Aqua will be fine. She's the most rational cop I know and she doesn't let her feelings get in the way. When she's angry, she takes it out by doing something else then comes to work with a clear head."

Yuffie seemed to want to argue with me again, but I pushed past her, heading to the captain's office. I needed to tell him that I was taking off to clear my head. And that Aqua had left as well. Not that he would be very happy with me.

"Captain?" I called, opening his door. I saw him sitting there, alone, scribbling furiously on a document of some kind. He didn't look happy at all.

"What?"

"Well... Um... Aqua and I are going to take another look at the scene. Maybe we'll see something new now that we've gotten some sleep," I explained, slightly nervous. Even though he was younger than I was by about a year, he was still scary when mad. Not that he got mad very often. He was the most cheery captain I've ever worked under.

"You got sleep?" He asked, looking up at me. There were nasty dark circles under his eyes. "For some reason I don't believe you."

I laughed nervously. "You're right sir. I didn't get any sleep. I was just thinking-"

"Go. And take Cid with you. He hasn't seen the sight yet."

Damn. I hated working with the lieutenant. He was so... so... weird.

"Yes sir."

* * *

><p>I'd found nothing at the crime scene. Aqua and I were both so disappointed that we almost didn't go back to the station, but we had to. We had to report back to Captain Hikari about our findings, otherwise he would think we might be hiding something. Which was stupid.<p>

Why would either of us hide something that could help solve the case?

He was going to be so discouraged when he found out we still had absolutely nothing. And there had been no calls to the tip line still. No one seemed to know anything.

"Ven! You gotta come here!" Yuffie's excited call alerted me and Aqua immediately. We exchanged glances, then looked back at where Yuffie was standing, waving at us. Next to her sat a young girl, probably in her mid twenties, with green eyes. She looked nervous.

"What, Yuffie?" I asked as we approached.

"Okay, tell him your story, Ariadne."

The young woman nodded, then glanced up at me. When our eyes met, she flushed and looked down again, fumbling with her hands. Beside me, Aqua sighed, but I continued to wait. She'd probably never talked to a cop like this before.

"Well...," she finally began, "I saw the news... about the senator's death, and I think... I think my friend may have been a witness." Immediately I pulled up a chair and sat in it, curious. I motioned to Aqua to go get the captain and she nodded. A few seconds later Captain Hikari, Cid, Aqua, Yuffie and I were crowded around this young woman who didn't look comfortable at all.

"Your friend might have seen Senator Terra be killed? What's her name? Where is she? Why hasn't she come here herself?" Captain Hikari asked. Ariadne shrunk back, and looked at her hands again.

"H-Her name is Ellie Routh. I... I don't know where she is."

"Then how-"

"She went on a run last night, to relieve stress, you know? She does that a lot. Around midnight, I called her to let her know I was going out and not to worry when she got back. I asked her where she was, and she said on a road that parallels Main. One that was really close to City Hall." I couldn't believe my luck. We were actually getting somewhere with this.

"Did she tell you anything?" Aqua asked. She sounded worried, for some reason. "Did she tell you what the killer looked like, or what was going on?"

Ariadne shook her head. "No. She didn't say anything. She just suddenly stopped speaking. I asked her if she was still there, but then there was this clattering. I think she dropped her phone." She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. "The person who killed the senator... do you think they might have killed Ellie too? You didn't find another body, right?"

"No, don't worry, we haven't found one yet," Aqua said reassuringly. I was surprised at how calm she was all of a sudden. "Do you have a picture of her with you?"

"Um, yeah. I do."

"Aqua...," I said quietly. I stood up before pulling her to the side. "We don't know if this has anything to do with the case. There are other streets that parallel Main that are close to City Hall. This Ellie girl might not have been on Hallow. It's possible this has nothing to do with-"

"Um... Sir?"

I turned towards Ariadne with a sigh. "Yes?"  
>"It was Hallow she was on. That's part of her running route."<p>

"See," Aqua snapped at me. "Now, can we see that picture."

"Oh, yeah." Ariadne reached into her purse and pulled out a somewhat crumpled photo. Before Aqua could grab it, I snatched it from the young woman's hands and looked over it briefly. The girl posed in the picture looked to be about twenty-three with long brown hair and golden eyes. She was smiling, but there were dark circles under her eyes.

She looked slightly familiar.

"Aqua, take Yuffie to the scene of the crime and look around to see if you can find this girl's cell phone," Captain Hikari commanded suddenly. I jumped. I'd forgotten he was there. "If you do find it, we're going to have to have another press release."

"Yes sir," Aqua and Yuffie said simultaneously.

"And Ven, ask Miss Ariadne everything she knows about this Ellie girl. She may have been a part of it."

"No!" Ariadne exclaimed, standing up, but the captain was already back in his office with Cid. "Ellie would never hurt someone."

"Please calm down, Miss," I said, pushing her down into her chair. "He's just thinking of all the options. I'm sure it's just coincidence that your friend was there at the time of the murder, but we can't rule out the possibility that she was involved just yet."

That was when Ariadne burst into tears. And I didn't know what to do. I sucked at helping girls with their emotions. It just wasn't something that was programmed into my head. Mom would have been so disappointed in me at the moment.

"Ellie... She could never hurt anyone. She grew up with a dad for a doctor. She was raised to help people, not hurt them," Ariadne said between sobs. "She may be rude and frustrating sometimes, but she's a good person who would never help kill someone." The only thing I could think to do was rub her on the back comfortingly.


	4. Shot through the heart

**Sorry I didn't post last week. A lot of stuff came up and I had issues getting my mind focused enough to edit this ^^; So I decided to post two chapters this week, even though they're a day late... I had homework to do yesterday and just didn't have time. Plus I slept till noon, so that didn't help. **

**Anyway, thanks for the reviews, and so on. I hope to get more in the near future :) If you read this, whether you like it or not, let me know why. I can only improve if I know what people do and don't like.**

**That's all... I'm not going to say anything in the next chapter. **

**Read, review, enjoy, and I'll have another chapter up next week!**

**~Sunechirei_  
><em>**

_**Full Chapter Title: Shot through the heart, and you're to blame (Shot through the heart, Bon Jovi)**_

_**Thanks to Fukuoo for betaing this chapter, chapter 5, and possibly all the chapters after this ^.^  
><strong>_

* * *

><p><strong>Riku<strong>

I was supposed to be making sure that nothing would be found. Yes, there would be bullets, but homemade ones couldn't be traced back to me, so there were no worries there. What I really needed to look out for was the fact that the police might find mine or Kairi's foot prints. Or maybe even DNA that wasn't cleaned up properly. We were too worried about getting that girl knocked out and away from the scene as soon as possible.

I couldn't understand why the Boss wanted to keep her alive. He could have killed her right then and there, dealt with her in an instant and all of this would be over with. We could have dumped her body elsewhere and the police would never know. In fact, I should have just killed her as soon as I saw her standing there. The bullet would have reached, and I have impeccable aim.

Maybe it would have been better to kill her right then and there, make it seem like a random killing, rather than an attack against the senator. But we didn't.

And now the boss had an interest in her.

But it didn't make any sense. Just because she wasn't afraid to die – she actually seemed like she _wanted_ to die – he wanted to let her live. I knocked her out to save her the pain of dying, because she didn't seem like that bad of a girl, but then the Boss decided that Sephiroth wasn't going to kill her.

I didn't understand what went on during that time. All I knew was that one minute that girl was our enemy, a threat to our family, and the next, Kairi is being instructed to take care of her. Nothing was making sense.

The only thing that did make sense to me was me watching the crime scene so that nothing was found. Nothing at all.

So I stood there, right next to the scene where I killed a man a few hours previous, watching people scramble around to find evidence. There were really only two people I happened to be paying attention to at the moment, however.

One Miss Aqua, and Mr. Ven. The two most famous detectives in all of Traverse City. Aqua, however, had been married to Terra, despite the fact that he cheated on her on an almost daily basis. The idea of how out of wack her emotions were at the moment made me smile. Despite how pissed off she'd been at him during their entire marriage, she still loved him.

The two of them were standing over the bleach drenched body of the senator, talking. It'd been Pyro's idea to clean up the area with bleach. Even if they did find something, it would be so tainted that it would be useless and unable to be cleared as real evidence. I smiled at that fact. Even though Pyro wasn't technically part of the family, he certainly fit in with us. He and Shorty were perfect for the jobs they had.

Finally, I heard something interesting. Ven had snapped at his partner and was pulling out his phone, clearly frustrated. Aqua noticed me, and her eyes narrowed. It was clear she recognized me as a member of the Strife family. Would that do anything to help with their investigation?

The way she walked over to me made me nervous. Did she know something? Did she know about the weird girl we'd kidnapped? We weren't really known for kidnapping people, so I doubted that she would put that together, but still...

"Excuse me, but what are you doing here?" she asked in a snippy voice.

"I work late," I lied smoothly, pushing back some of my hair. Well, I guess it wasn't really a lie. "I heard a bunch of noise as I was walking home and I became curious. Was someone murdered?" This was the best part, acting innocent.

"I'm sorry, but I can't release any of that information to you now," she growled. "Please leave."

"But-"

"I don't want to arrest you for interrupting our investigation. Please. Leave." I was outside of the police barrier. She technically couldn't arrest me, but I didn't want to test her. She was a respected detective. Her word would be listened to over mine.

"If you insist," I said, bowing my head. I turned sharply and stalked away, thinking about how nasty she'd been acting to me. That wasn't normal at all. She must not have been happy with the death of her husband.

And of course, there was the fact that they had nothing.

The feel of wind in my hair was the best thing in the world. Sure, it was more dangerous without a helmet, but I didn't care. Just riding my motorcycle was one of the greatest things I could experience. I could go fast, feel the rush of danger, and not get in trouble as long as I stayed away from cops. And they were busy dealing with the death of the senator, so I was home free tonight.

Only, I was going somewhere that I didn't really want to be.

Home.

I hated being in the huge mansion. I couldn't understand why my parents wanted to live that way, but I guess they were just as greedy and selfish as the boss. But Kairi seemed to like it for some reason. Couldn't understand why though. She was about as materialistic as I was. I guess she just liked the feeling of being part of the family, because for years before hand, she wasn't allowed anywhere near us.

It wasn't like that now.

Though, as far as I'm concerned, I have no home.

Kairi was honestly the only reason I ended up going back there day after day. She needed me more than anything else. After being separated for so many years, I guess it was important to her that we were close. I couldn't deny her that after everything she's been through.

I guess it wasn't that bad. I mean, yeah, it was huge and annoying, but it was quiet. I could think there, unlike when I was with my family. Or with the lower members of the Mafia. They all liked to talk and that gets on my nerves.

Silence is wonderful sometimes.

Or all of the time. I'm not really picky.

"Riku! You're finally home!" I hadn't realized that I was already inside until I heard Kairi call out my name. "I was getting worried that the police thought you were involved with Terra's death and were keeping you behind." Kairi hugged me the moment I was close enough to her that she could. I rolled my eyes and pushed her off me.

"You really think that would happen?" I asked, feeling completely amused. "No one has ever figured out who I've killed. They won't know anything."

"Except for, you know, the woman currently in the room over there who saw you kill the senator." The look in Kairi's eye was slightly sadistic, and slightly teasing. It was frustrating. She was always like this now.

"First witness. And she's probably going to be dealt with soon so there'll be no one before we know it."

"I don't know," Kairi said slowly. "Onkel seemed pretty serious about keeping her alive. I think he knows something about her that we don't."

"Well whatever it is, he'd better tell us soon so we don't have to take care of her anymore."

"Why not? I think she's kinda a nice person."

"You've talked to her."

Kairi smiled over at me before turning around and heading up the stairs towards her room. Before she got to the middle landing, she pointed back at the door near at the end of the front hall; the one where the strange woman was being housed.

"Yeah, I have. You should go talk to her too. She's an interesting girl," Kairi said with a smile. Her eyes seemed slightly sad. "I just hope she doesn't get hurt. I don't want her to." Then she ran up the last few steps and disappeared down the hallway leading to the rooms upstairs. I didn't want to believe that she would say something like that. Especially since if nothing happened to that woman, then she could rat to the police and get us both arrested.

I glanced over at the door, not sure what I should be thinking. Maybe I should go talk to her. Ask her what she was doing outside so late, and what her plan was now that she'd been kidnapped. If I hadn't seen her tell the boss that she wasn't afraid to die, I would have guessed that she was absolutely terrified right now.

I smirked when I thought about how brave she'd been. Kinda. That was something you didn't see often in girls now a days. They usually started crying the moment things didn't go their way. I'd seen enough of that.

But I felt like seeing her would only cause me annoyance and frustration. I couldn't dispose of her, even though she was a witness.

That just pissed me off.

So instead of going to talk to the woman who pretty much ruined my day, I headed back outside to my motorcycle. I figured it would be best for me to just leave the house and deal with her when I wasn't as high strung. Too much was going on at the moment. I needed to relax.

Turning on my motorcycle, I knew exactly where I was going to go.

There was only one place in this entire city that I liked to go to when I was upset, even though I know for a fact that the boss hated it when any of us went there. His reasoning was extremely funny, in my opinion, but I would never tell that to his face. I would still make fun of his son for the reason though.

The Seventh Heaven bar was probably the most popular place in the entirety of Traverse City, so I was expecting it to be extremely busy. But not this busy. I smirked, realizing that Tifa was probably on duty at the moment. Business at the place always boomed during her shift, which was the reason the boss hadn't gotten rid of her yet. He was a little too obsessed with money.

"Hey! Riku! Over here!" I heard Tifa call the moment I stepped into the bar. She had a seat waiting for me right where she was working. As usual.

"Thanks Tifa," I said loudly, trying to be heard over the roar of the crowd and the music. "How'd you know I would be here?" She smiled at me, ruby eyes shining and black hair pulled back into a high pony tail. Tifa was pretty. Really pretty. But for some reason I just couldn't look at her in any way other than a friend. Maybe it's because she already belonged to someone, or maybe because I was the one she went to when she needed to talk. I didn't actually know, but I'm pretty sure her lover appreciated me not hitting on her every day. Unlike some guys in this place.

"Kairi called a few minutes ago and said you were stressed and left the house. I figured you'd be coming here." As soon as I sat down Tifa placed a drink in front of me. Pure vodka. I couldn't help but smile at how well she knew my tastes.

"Of course she did," I muttered, taking a sip. "She acts like some kind of mother for me."

"Well, sometimes I can't help but think you need one. I mean, an actual one." Tifa knew almost everything about my life. Almost too much. It was scary sometimes how much information she'd gathered over the years. She was a great listener, and a great person to get info from. Most of what we know about famous politicians came from Tifa. Even Terra, who wanted to put a limit on alcohol was in here all the time, chatting away.

That's how we knew where he was going to be, and when.

"I don't need a mom," I said. "I don't need anyone. I'm perfectly fine all by myself." Tifa only smiled as she wiped one of the beer mugs clean. The best part about her was how much she listened. "Kairi's just lonely and looking for a brother or something. I just happen to be there for her, so she tries to return the favor."

"You should accept it. Especially with what happened last night. I'm sure you need that support since the boss isn't very happy with you."

Well, that was news to me.

"The boss isn't happy with me?"

"Well, Cloud said he thought his dad wasn't happy with you. But who knows if he's right or not. I certainly don't."

"It's not nice to talk about people behind their back, you know." Cloud's voice appeared right next to me, and I shifted my head so I could see him out of the corner of my eye. He was sitting there looking tired and frustrated; typical Cloud behavior.

"Sorry," I said, rolling my eyes. "Didn't think you of all people would care." I downed the rest of my drink and gestured to Tifa that I wanted more. A lot more. I felt like getting completely plastered, even though Kairi would so yell at me for it.

"I don't. I was just making a statement." He locked eyes with Tifa for a moment, and I smirked when I saw her turn bright red before she handed me more alcohol.

"I... I have something to do. I'll be right back." She hurried away from the two of us and headed into the back room of the bar, which caused me to laugh. Cloud glared at me.

"Find something funny, Riku?"

"Only how embarrassed you make her. I guess you really know what to do in bed." The look on Cloud's face was priceless. Better than that. If I had had quick access to my phone, I so would have taken a picture of it to show to Kairi. He looked furious and at the same time embarrassed. A great expression.

"That has nothing to do with you."

"She's nineteen, you know. You're a lot older than she is."

"I don't care."

"Is she that good?"

I was pretty sure I was tipsy. I guess that's what happens when you drink two glasses of vodka in quick succession. When Cloud didn't say anything to me, I laughed again and patted his head, despite the fact that he was older than me. I just loved to piss him off like that.

"You're a jackass, Riku," Cloud muttered eventually. "All that killing's turned you into a monster."

"It's your daddy's fault," I grumbled in response. "He's the one who trained me to be this way."

There was a moment of silence, before Cloud turned to me.

"When Father is dead, I'll let you go, okay?"

I just smiled. "I never said I wanted to be let go. And I thought you were going to run off with Tifa when the boss dies. You know, completely destroy the family business and leave. You can't free me if you disappear."

There was venom in my voice, which confused me. It wasn't like I wanted to stay in the mafia my whole life. I wanted to get out at some point and make it to the outside world.

Stop killing.

Yet the idea of the family breaking apart scared me a little bit.

Okay, a lot.

Or did it? I couldn't think straight long enough to make a coherent string of thoughts, so I didn't honestly know if I wanted the family to stay together or not.

"You know what Riku, you should just go home now," Cloud muttered, leaning his head in his hands. "You're clearly drunk, and I don't want to deal with you when you're like this. Go home and take everything out on your witness. I'm sure she already thinks little of you, so you can't exactly make an ass of yourself."

I wanted to smack him.

No, punch his living daylights out.

But I'd get kicked out if I did that, and Uncle wouldn't be happy with me at all, so instead I just sighed and stood up, throwing a few dollar bills for Tifa's tip on the bar.

"Whatever. I'll see you later then," I snapped before stalking out of the building. I didn't want to be in there anymore anyway. A walk would be so much better. The cool air would clear my head, and things would become so much better.

Except for the fact that as soon as I exited the bar I heard a commotion over in the back alley. When I looked over there, I saw a few guys surrounded a poor young woman, messing with her. She was trying to push them off, but they didn't seem very eager to let her get away.

With narrowed eyes, I headed over to them.


	5. Got to wash away

_Full Chapter Title: Got to wash away the taste of evidence (Evidence, Faith No More)_

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><p><strong>Ven<strong>

I was a little frustrated. Yes, Ariadne had been a lot of help learning about her best friend and what she'd heard, but that was it. There was no proof Ellie had been there when it happened, or that she'd been caught up in the whole thing. Maybe there's something I was missing. Something at the crime scene.

Something about the people Terra met that day. Could the killer be someone he already knew? I wouldn't doubt that to be the case. He had a lot of enemies.

And they sent a lot of hate mail. I swear that people needed to get lives. Going through mail, in the dark, could hardly be called fun. By anyone. It's boring, and annoying.

Nothing could ever top it.

Maybe. I probably haven't lived long enough to find out if there's something worse. There probably is. Which is, you know, just my luck. I'd probably find it someday and realize that it's my destiny to deal with annoying and frustrating things all the time. Like these letters. And this case. And the people around me working it.

I swear that sometimes I just want to murder the people at work. They're frustrating.

"Yo! Ventus, find anythin' yet?" Cid asked, coming up behind me without making a sound. I rolled my eyes and threw the most recent document I'd been looking at on the table before turning to face him.

"Yes, Lieutenant. I found something important and just haven't shown it to you yet," I muttered sarcastically. He narrowed his eyes and shook his head, muttering to himself about "insolent little brats," and "no one respecting their seniors anymore." I wanted to laugh at his narcissism. Just because he happened to be the oldest member on the force, he acted like we all had to treat him as some kind of god.

Pissed me off...

"No need ta be all sassy," Cid replied, sitting in the chair across from me. "Just wanted to know if you'd found something before I took off, ya know?" He twisted the toothpick in his mouth, grinning at me, and I felt sick. This guy... no, most of the guys on the force were just messed up in some way. I couldn't believe that any of us could work for such a great place without burning it down.

"Just go home, Lieutenant," I snapped, going back to the letters. "I don't want to deal with you right now."

"Ya never want ta deal with me."

"I know. That should tell you something?" I raised my eyebrows and glanced at him. The look on his face was priceless. I really wished I had a camera to catch it or something. Maybe then I could shove it in his face and get him to do what I wanted.

Of course, that wouldn't work at all. So there really wasn't any point in thinking about it.

"Whatever. See ya later, Ven. Don't stay too late. The Capin'll get mad at you."

"Yeah, yeah," I replied, waving him off. I had too much to do to care if Captain Hikari would get angry with me. He wouldn't dare fire me before he got the chance to find Terra's killer, so I didn't have to worry about that, and he knew better than to argue with me when I was frustrated. So, in all honestly, Cid was an idiot. He knew nothing about how I fit into the unit, despite being here the longest.

Sometimes I wonder what time and age has to do with merit.

* * *

><p>A few hours after Cid ran off for the evening, I got a call from Aqua. The phone beside me wouldn't stop ringing, so I finally decided to answer it, and Aqua definitely wasn't happy that I hadn't answered sooner. Or, I assumed that's why she yelled at me. It was possible that she was just tired and didn't know how to control her emotions. I wondered when the last time she spent time with her son was.<p>

"Look, Ven," Aqua said to me, "we found something pertinent to the case and you not answering your phone only put us behind. If you're busy, so what? We've been busy too, but that's not important right now."

"Alright," I said, rolling my eyes. She acted like such a mother sometimes. It annoyed me, mainly because I didn't want her to see me as a kid. I wanted her to see me as an adult. But that would never happen. We'd known each other for too long. "Sorry. What did you find? I haven't found jack over here."

"We think we have a lead on the missing woman."

Immediately I stood up. Ariadne had really made me want to find this "Ellie." Of course, the picture brought back odd memories that I didn't want to think about. I knew somewhere that this woman wasn't the one who'd been a surrogate mother to me when I was younger, but they looked so much alike. It almost made me shudder every time I saw her photo.

I had to find Ellie.

"I'll be there in a few minutes. Don't let anyone move, or touch anything else. I want to see this evidence for myself." I heard Aqua give my commands to the people around her, and I felt a jolt in my stomach. She was actually handling this so well. Or, sometimes she could. I didn't understand how.

"I'll see you in a few." I slammed the phone down before grabbing my coat and heading for the doors.

The drive to the crime scene was boring. I ended up having to turn on my lights because no one around me would move so I could get by. It always entertained me that people in the city begged for all this police funding, but when there was an emergency, they did nothing but get mad at us. When I would pass by some of the cars on the way to the scene, I got a few glares, and shakes of the head.

For some reason this made me grin.

When I got to the scene, I noticed a bunch of people crowded around the sewers across the street from the murder. I got out of the car and headed over to them, making sure that I had my phone with me in case I needed to contact the captain. Which I probably would have to.

"What's the lead?" I asked when I was closer. The people parted and let me in. I came face to face with Aqua, who was holding out a cell phone in a plastic bag. The phone looked a little dented, but other than that completely fine and in working condition. "Is that Ellie's phone?"

Aqua nodded, a flash of annoyance in her eyes. For a brief second I considered asking if she was okay, but there were other things to worry about. Like the phone.

"So Ellie was here when the shooting happened. She must have seen it, dropped her phone, then was kidnapped..." My eyes widened when I realized what this meant. The person who killed Terra had been skilled. It was organized, quiet, and well planned out. If they had this Ellie girl, then who knows what would happen to her. Luckily, it was still within the first twenty-four hours. We still had time.

I turned to the rest of the people in the alley and beckoned for them to come over to me.

"Alright," I said when they were close enough to hear me. "Ellie Routh seems to be the only lead to finding Senator Terra's murderer. We find her, she'll tell us who killed him, and maybe why. But we don't have a lot of time. We need to send out as many search parties as we can to find her. I'll contact her friend and get something that belongs to her so the dogs can find her scent." I paused, taking a deep breath. All of the men looked determined. "We have to find her. Make sure she's safe, and put the guy who pulled all of this off behind bars. Understand?"

A chorus of "yes sir" popped up among the crowd before they dispersed. I let out a sigh and glanced down at the bag. A single phone. That's all we had to go on. But, it's better than nothing, especially when dealing with a murder like this.

I would take what I got.

As I headed back to the car so I could go back to the station, something caught my eye. Two men stood farther back in the alley, watching my every move. I recognized them immediately as Axel and Roxas, Xemnas Strife's right hand men. They were the body guards, and the most famous ones in the entire world of the mafia.

I watched them too, eyes narrowed. When the smaller one, Roxas, waved at me, I began to feel angry and climbed into my car, slamming the door shut. This was the second time a member of that mafia had shown up at the crime scene.

Either they were very curious about the scene, or very curious about what we'd found.

_If the Traverse City Mafia is involved, then we may never find that girl._ I shook my head. _No. These are bad thoughts. Stay positive. They might not have killed her yet._

At this last thought, I figured I should have a meeting with the one member of the mafia I could stand.

Cloud Strife.


	6. I don't hate you

**I'm a bad author... I know. I've been so caught up with other stuff I haven't had time to do anything. But now I'm going to post chapters when I have time, and when they're done. There's not going to be a schedule, so don't expect one. Maybe when school's out, but probably not because I have six and a half books to write before I graduate from high school. I can do it all this summer, but it'll take up a lot of time, so...**

**Please enjoy the new chapter, thanks to all the reviewers, and I'll post the next chapter eventually. Also, this is unedited. I'm going betaless on all my stories now because I just don't have time for it right now.  
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**Read, enjoy, REVIEW! :D  
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**~Sunechirei  
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**_Full chapter title: I don't hate you but I just want to save you (Savior, Rise Against)_**

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><p><strong>Ellie<strong>

If you were to wake up in the middle of an odd room wearing your normal running clothes, with a searing headache, and memories of seeing a guy killed, you would freak out too. Right? Because I certainly was.

At first I thought I had to be dead. The only thing I could about was that sword threatening to be stabbed through my heart, though it didn't make sense for the most dangerous mafia group in Traverse City to use a sword to kill someone. I mean, yeah, it has to be intimidating, and I'm sure more painful than a bullet wound, but seriously? A sword? Who even carries those around anymore?

Apparently freaks of nature name Sephiroth who work directly under mafia boss Xemnas.

Wonderful.

Anyway, eventually I remembered blacking out, but that was it. There could be a chance I wasn't dead, which angered me slightly. I would rather not be alive than be held captive by a bunch of messed up freaks.

I would have to tell them that.

Then again, if I did, they would probably decide that instead of dying, I needed to be tortured, so they would keep me alive until I gave in and said I no longer wanted to die. Don't know why that would work, but really no one understands the psyche of the mafia. I could try and get into their heads. It wouldn't work.

It's like they're not normal people... Which they can't be. They don't follow the social norm at all, meaning they're not in the social norm, meaning they're not normal.

Why do people have to be so messed up? If they would just stop being so selfish and do what the police told them to do, then none of this would have happened.

As my mind cleared, I thought about who they might have killed. I never really got into the whole news thing. I mean, yeah, I payed attention when I needed to so I knew what went on in the world, but I didn't know who the mafia might want to kill.

Just thinking about how messed up this whole situation was made my headache worse, and I squeezed my eyes shut, hoping to block out the images of the room that had been ingrained into my mind while I thought. I didn't want to think about how weird this place was anymore. I just wanted to get away from it, and for good.

About this time, I heard voices outside the door near the bed. I glanced over at the extravagant thing curiously, wondering who they could be. The voices sounded slightly familiar, and I guessed that they were Riku and Kairi. The ones who'd killed the man.

So I was to be stuck in their house? Or, somewhere near them? Did they live together? Were they lovers or something? The girl seemed a bit too young to be dating that guy. He was probably in his late twenties or something. But this was the mafia. They could get away with pretty much anything and not be judged aloud for it.

The voices raised a little bit, then calmed down, before they went completely silent. How wonderful that they were having an argument in front of my door. They must be lovers. So caught up in their own little world.

Then the door opened, and the girl walked in, a smile on her face, though I could tell she was irritated. Something the guy said must have really annoyed her.

"Hey there," she said sweetly. "How are you?"

Okay, that didn't make sense.

"Let's see, I just saw you help kill a man, was threatened by the head of your little group, and now I wake up after I was supposed to be killed with a headache and confusion, and you ask me how I am? What's wrong with you?"

Kairi's face fell.

"I just wanted to know if you were okay. I'm not like the other people in my family. Just because you were in the wrong place at the wrong time doesn't mean you should be treated horribly by us."

"A little late for that."

"You're in a nice place, aren't you?" Kairi asked, gesturing to the surrounding room. I had to admit, it was a nice room. It was probably bigger than Ariadne's entire apartment with its own bathroom – or what I assumed was a bathroom – a large closet, many windows, and a lot of... fancy furnishings. I didn't quite know how to describe it.

"Yeah, I am, but not before you guys kidnap me, knock me out, throw me around like some kind of animal, tie me up, hit me over the head, and try to kill me. Sorry, but I don't think any of those things make up for the fact that you guys were so horrible to me," I snapped back. "Can you honestly tell me that you don't hate me?"

I didn't know where that came from, to be honest. This girl didn't seem like she hated me, though when she called her boss to let him know what had happened she'd clearly been pissed.

"I don't hate you. My brother does, but he has his own issues. I just think… well, you were unfortunate. I believe you're not a cop, and them I hate, but you're just some girl."

"I'm not "just some girl.' I have a name you know."

"Well, what is it?"

"None of your business."

"You're not being very helpful," Kairi said, moving farther into the room. I flinched and curled up in a ball. This girl helped kill that man. She was clearly dangerous. "Look, I'm not going to hurt you. Now, I can't guarantee Riku won't, because he's really pissed at you, but I'll keep him away from you until he calms down a little."

"Riku's the one who killed the man."

Kairi paused for a minute, then sat down on the edge of the bed. "Yeah. His nickname is Snipe, which is the name Axel uses for him all the time. I think it's ridiculous name."

"How are you related to him?"

"Riku?" Kairi gave me a surprised little look, then smiled. "I'm his half sister. Little sister. I'm about nine years younger than he is." I guess the brother sister relationship thing made a little more sense. Sure, it probably would have been more amusing for them to be sleeping together because it's very easy to manipulate people when they had a sexual relationship.

"You're giving me information a little too easily."

I didn't like the look on Kairi's face. She could be nice, but the fact that she had Strife blood in her made it so she could easily be evil.

"You're probably going to die son. As much as I hate to say this, Xemnas doesn't like people outside of the family to know things about our inner workings. You're already seen a lot. I don't know why he's keeping you alive right now, but he won't for long. I know that about him." She looked away, eyes shining slightly from what I assumed were tears. "Again, I'm really sorry about this."

"You aren't making sense."

"To you I'm not." Kairi stood up and straightened out her clothes. "Anyway, does your head hurt still? Riku... well, he's not exactly gentle with females. Trust me, I would know. When he knocked you out, he might have hurt you, despite catching you before you hit the ground." She smiled. "You know, you probably think of Riku as a horrible guy, but he's really not."

I didn't say anything. Sisters always had a strange view of their brothers. Especially when they were in a close family such as this. Kairi didn't seem to like my silence, because she sighed and began to walk toward the door.

"I get that you don't believe me, but it's true. Riku's really nice. He just doesn't... he doesn't have a nice job, and it's not his fault. I'm trying to get him out of it. So is... well, never mind. I'll have him come in here later. You'll see." She smiled before opening the door.

"If I'm just going to die, then why are you doing this?" I called out before she could close the door. I thought for a second about running, but figured it wasn't a good idea. So many bad things could happen if I tried to escape. Especially if that Riku guy was home. He terrified me. "Why are you acting nice to me. Telling me things. Try to reassure me that the guy I saw murder a man is actually nice. It's not like it's going to matter in a bit, right?"

Kairi's answer was simple. Simple, and annoying, and confusing.

"Because I don't want you to be unhappy while you're here."

I wanted to yell after her. Ask her why she called her boss if she didn't want me to be unhappy, but she closed the door and locked it before I could. Of course the door had to be locked from the outside. Of course they wouldn't give me a chance to get away, despite the fact that I wouldn't dare any way.

I wasn't that stupid.

* * *

><p>A few hours passed and I'd barely moved at all. No one had come to visit me since Kairi, though I'd heard voices outside, and I hadn't tried to escape. There wasn't a point. They would just catch me and put me back there.<p>

Besides, it wasn't like I really had anyone waiting for me. Yeah, Ariadne was, but she would have to give up on me eventually. I'd just vanished, after all. She didn't know where I was, or even if I was alive.

Maybe if I had something more. A boyfriend, perhaps. A lover. More than just one friend. A family. A job.

A life.

If I had those things waiting for me I'd be more eager to find a way out. But I could honestly care less. Ariadne was it, and she wasn't much. Since we'd graduated from high school, and she became an intern at the pharmaceutical section of the hospital, she's had so much on her plate. Maybe... maybe there would be no reason for me to go back at all.

Not that I could, anyway. If I did escape, they would just hunt me down again. Probably even before I could get anywhere near the police to tell them what happened to me.

I glanced over at the food left for me, wondering why they were torturing me like this. That food looked amazing. Like a gourmet dinner. Almost like a last meal. It really angered me that someone would give their prisoner something like that when they were going to kill them. I decided to ignore it, just to spite them, but my growling stomach told me to do otherwise.

I wanted to grab my stomach, rip it out of my body, and throw it out one of the windows in my room. Violent, but effective. Too bad I couldn't do that unless I wanted to die.

About this time I heard a commotion outside the room. A lot of yelling and cursing. There were a lot of different voices that I didn't recognize, though I did hear Kairi's voice. She sounded as though she were crying, and her voice was hoarse. I could hear someone trying to calm her down. All of this caught my curiosity.

And for some reason, I decided I wanted to escape from my room and see what was happening. That's right. I didn't want to get out to run away. I wanted to get out so I could run into a bunch of my captors and ask them what all the commotion is about. You know, the smart thing to do.

The commotion got louder as I searched for a way to pick the lock to my room. I'd gotten good at it when I was younger. After Mom died, Dad always forgot that I existed and sometimes locked me out of the house for a good few hours. My response was to learn how to pick locks. I'd never gotten in trouble for it, even though I'd actually broken into a person's house before, and it's a useful skill to know.

Luckily for me I found paper clips, which were exactly what I needed.

It didn't take me long to get through the lock, surprisingly. I thought I'd be completely screwed in that case because this house did belong to a mafia member. There were supposed to be paranoid and put extra strength locks on all of the doors in their house. Just in case they kidnapped some poor psychologist out for a run in the middle of the night.

But nope. It took me only a few seconds to get the door open. It didn't make a sound as it revealed a very interesting scene. The first thing I noticed was the house itself. The room I was in seemed to be at the very front. Near the front doors. Which seemed stupid to me. But the place was absolutely grand. Extravagant would be a better word, actually. A much better word.

Then I saw the cause of the commotion. A group of men I didn't recognize were surrounding someone else. I could see blood on the floor, and on the skin of some of the men, and I knew immediately someone had gotten hurt. The sight of the blood made me sick to my stomach. The one reason I didn't follow my adoptive father into the world of medicine had to be because of my fear of blood.

I hated that stuff.

I stumbled back and crashed into the door, making a loud noise. Immediately all of the men looked up at me, and between them I saw a bleeding Riku laying on the ground. His eyes were scrunched up, and his hand resting on the place where blood spilled from. On his chest, right where the rib cage started.

For some reason I knew he'd gotten shot.

I don't know how I knew, and I didn't know why any of this was happening, but I did, and it was. So I kinda went along with it.

One of the guys, who I actually did know, rushed toward me immediately, trying to shove me back into the room. His blond hair and blue eyes really made him look pathetic, and of course the fact that he was my height didn't do him any favors. Plus, it was easy to just push back and make my way farther into the room.

He grabbed my arm, and I turned to glare at him. All of my previous nausea vanished, leaving me with nothing more than determination.

I'd seen bullet wounds before. I'd helped my adoptive father take care of the wounds before. I knew how to deal with this kind of thing. I could easily save this guy, which I guess all of the men wanted. Kairi too. She watched me with fearful eyes at the side of her brother while I walked toward him.

No one spoke for a minute. The only sound was Riku panting, his face pale from blood loss. I considered letting him die for a moment, but the soft voice of the guy who tried to keep me back in the room brought me away from that vicious thought.

"What are you doing? You shouldn't be out here. Get back into the-"

"I can save him," I said quietly.

"What?"

"It's not going to be pretty, but I can save his life. My... dad was a trauma surgeon. I've helped him do this before with someone who was shot on the street. I remember how to do it."

For a minute no one said anything, and I wondered if they were stupid. This guy could die if they didn't hurry.

"Well? Do you want me to save his life or not? I doubt you'll want to take him to the emergency room, because you guys would get media coverage for that, so just let me take care of him."

Kairi was the one to react to what I said.

"What do you need?" she asked, her eyes clearly telling me that she trusted my judgment. I couldn't figure out why, of course. But this girl really didn't make much sense. Even to me. A trained psychologist.

"Rubbing alcohol, gauze, some kind of medical tape, pain meds of some kind, and something to pull the bullet out of the wound," I said in a calm a voice as I could. I knelt next to him, wondering why I was willing to do this. He was the guy who got me kidnapped. If he hadn't killed that man, I wouldn't be here right now. But his gasping breaths, and the fact that he was conscious just got to me. It wouldn't leave me alone. "I might need to sew it up too, depending on how wide the bullet wound is. So needle and thread too. Also, you have some kind of family doctor, right? Get him over here, or this guy might die."

It was then I saw him open his eyes, and he glanced up at me.

His eyes were pretty. Filled with pain and anger, but damn were they gorgeous.

I didn't know how much time passed while he looked up at me, sweat dripping down his brow from the pain, but eventually the small blond body guard showed up next to me, handing me all of the things I needed. I nodded at him and went to work.

The fact that everyone was watching me made me nervous, but I worked as quickly as I could anyway. Pouring some of the alcohol onto a piece of gauze, I instructed one of the men to hold Riku down. The did what I said immediately, probably knowing the pain of alcohol on a wound. This guy would not be happy with this.

Of course, it served him right, but that didn't mean I felt good about it. I pressed the gauze onto the wound and flinched when he did. Part of me wished he was knocked out. Another part was so glad he was awake for this pain.

It didn't take long for me at all to clean the areas around the wound enough so I could see where the actual puncture was. The thing wasn't that big. Riku had probably been shot from pretty far away, though I have no idea why what he could have done to get shot like this. It wasn't pretty. But there was no exit wound, so the bullet had to be in there.

I felt bile rise in my throat again, and I knew that I had to hurry up. Every second I stalled, he lost more blood. Already he'd stopped struggling against the pain, and his breathing became labored. He probably had passed out.

Finding the bullet was easy. Unfortunately, when I got it out, blood spilled all over my clothes, as the wound opened completely again. That was difficult to stop. I had to press gauze against the wound for a few minutes to start a clot, and by that time, I felt exhausted. Maybe it was from the sight of blood, or maybe just from the fact that I had to do this.

Had to...

Finally I got the bleeding to slow down enough to bandage it. No one had spoken to me at all while I worked. They just watched me. Their eyes staring into my back. By the time I'd taped up the wound, my hands wouldn't stop shaking.

They made me nervous.

I was covered in blood.

I'd just saved the life of the man who kidnapped me.

It was then that the family doctor showed up. I barely heard him talking. I could only stare down at the passed out man in front of me, and one of the other men picked me up by the arms, before dragging me back to my room. He didn't talk to me. He just pulled me along.

Kairi, on the other hand, decided she wanted to ask me a question.

"Why did you do that?" I stopped in my tracks and turned to face Kairi. The others in the room were watching her too. "Why did you save him. It's his fault you're here. You hate us, don't you? Why did you save his life. You could have just let him die."

"No I couldn't have," I muttered, voice shaking horribly. The man holding onto me didn't let go. In fact, his grip tightened.

"Why not?"

"I don't care who it is," I answered, voice a little louder. "I don't care if they're a horrible person who wants the world to be destroyed. If I can save them, I will." Maybe this answer came from having a surgeon for an adoptive father, and a scientist for a real father. Maybe it came from the kindness I always saw from my mother.

Maybe I got it from hanging around Ariadne for most of my life. She was always the sweet kind of girl.

Or maybe the psychology training and research got to me. I knew all about different kinds of people. Initially they had to be good.

And if they were once good, couldn't they become like that again?

None of these thoughts really made sense to me at that moment. I just kept going on with my thoughts as the bodyguard dragged me into the room. Kairi watched me. The blond guy watched me. The doctor watched me.

My last words before the door slammed in my face:

"I'm not like you."


	7. There's a fine line

**So... hi there. Again. Sorry this is so late. I've been busy with school and what not. But summer's right around the corner :D  
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**Anyway, here's chapter 7 for those of you who still read this. Or new readers who are just coming across it. Not much to say.  
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**Please enjoy, and please review. Seriously. I'm not joking about this. Review. I'll post chapter 8 either later tonight or early tomorrow morning. So please review. Thanks. (Oh, and by review, I don't mean a one line one sentence deal. Actual insight into your thought about the writing, the characters, the plot, and so on would be wonderful. Thanks).  
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**~Sunechirei  
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**_Full Chapter Title: There's a fine line between the darkness and the dawn (All I know, Five for Fighting)  
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><p><strong>Riku<strong>

When I opened my eyes, I thought I'd be looking into the golden eyes of that girl. The one who saw me kill Terra. I liked her eyes. They were the last thing I remembered before passing out. I know that I got shot saving that girl from those guys. Cloud came out and saved me. Sephiroth showed up. So did Roxas and Axel, but I think Axel left to go do something.

It hurt like hell. Them bringing me back to my house. I couldn't figure out at first why they didn't just bring me to a hospital. Too much pain, and the only thing that made sense would be to get me treatment immediately. But nope. They brought me home. I had a bullet lodged in my side and they brought me back to my house.

God, Kairi was going to kill me if I survived this.

I remember hearing her voice talking. Not to me. To Kairi, I think. She was instructing them to get something. I recognized her voice immediately from when she'd gotten angry with me in the van. Also from when she talked with the boss. Then I saw her. Somehow my eyes opened.

I couldn't take them off her while she ordered someone to hold me down. The pain from the alcohol took my mind off her immediately, but as I passed out, I tried to keep her image in my mind. The way she held herself. Talked. Looked at me. It reminded me of something else. Someone else. Someone I knew.

I think I dreamed of the woman who that girl reminded me of. But I can't remember. Too much fuzziness to remember.

And when I woke up, expecting to see her eyes, I got to see Kairi instead. Not an angry Kairi, but a horrified one. A sad one.

One I didn't like to see.

She was sitting on a couch next to the bed I was lying in. I felt woozy, like I'd been drugged or something. It reminded me of what pot does, only I never really got into that drug, so I was frustrated more than happy. I like getting drunk. I don't like getting high. Impairs me too much. And I get jittery.

"You're finally awake?" Kairi asked me when my eyes finally adjusted to the light. I nodded, shutting my eyes again.

"I take it this means I'm alive?" I asked in a hoarse voice.

"Somehow. Vexen said if that girl hadn't helped you, you would have died. So you owe her this moment."

I glanced over at Kairi, trying to keep the light away from my eyes. I still liked the darkness so much better. I wished desperately that it would be night already, but of course my luck hates me. The clock in the back of the room let me know it was not night. But day. Which meant I had to get up and do things.

Despite nearly dying the night before.

I just love my family.

"Why did she save me?" I asked. It didn't make sense.

"I don't know. You should ask her yourself in a little while."

"She isn't dead yet?"

"No. Why would she be?" Kairi still didn't always understand the inner workings of the family business. A lot of times she would pretend to know, but she'd be so lost inside. That girl who saw me kill Terra should be dead by now. If she wasn't, then the boss had a reason to keep her alive, and I wanted to know what that reason was.

"Never mind." My head started to clear, but the pain in my chest was coming back. I could feel the wrap going all the way around my body, keeping the bandages in place so I wouldn't bleed out or get infected.

Damn. I hate getting shot.

"O-Okay." Kairi stood up and helped me into a sitting position before she sat back down again, hands wringing together. She could be so easy to read sometimes.

"You have something you want to tell me?" I asked, trying to sit up. Kairi came over and helped me. It felt odd. Her skin. That's what was odd. The heat of it made me shudder, and I shrugged away from her. "I don't need help."

"Yes you do," Kairi said, her voice getting stronger. "Vexen said I had to make sure I helped you places. Everyone else too. And I do have something to tell you."

"What?"

"Onkel... he wants to meet up with you today." Of course. No rest for the hit-man. No rest for the hit-man who has an odd sense of justice and doesn't like women to get hurt. Well, women who didn't see me kill someone in the middle of the night for no reason and is now living in my house after saving my life, because I got shot, despite the fact that she probably hates me.

My life does not make sense.

"Why?"

"I don't know. Axel just came by and is waiting for you. He said that he needs to take you to see Onkel, even though I tried to tell them that you were too injured. You know how he is..." Kairi trailed off, looking down at her hands.

I sighed, then shook my head. "Alright. Help me get up. I don't think I can on my own without being in a lot of pain."

I didn't want to go through with this. My entire mind and body were telling me to go to sleep again. It wanted me to sleep and never wake up again because the pain was becoming unbearable. Just like before, only this time, worse.

If that makes _any_ sense.

Kairi helped me get out of the bed, and I noticed that I was in weird hospital clothes. I rolled my eyes. How like Vexen to put me in such a thing just to annoy me. And yes, I know that's why he did it.

"Do you still want that girl to die?" Kairi asked me as I pulled on a t-shirt and jeans. She stood with her back to me, probably only still there to make sure I didn't collapse or something like that. Or she was there to ask me annoying questions that make me wonder if she really doesn't think I'm capable of a human like action.

Granted, I didn't quite know how to answer that. Yeah, the woman had saved my life, but she was also a witness. Dad always told me that witnesses couldn't stay alive. They would talk. Rat you out. The only ones you could trust were family. They would never do something horrible like that. The woman wasn't family. We didn't even know who she was, or what she did. She claimed to be a psychologist, but a psychologist who knows how to deal with a bullet wound? Yeah, that's not weird at all.

"Riku?"

"I don't know," I answered after a time. "She saw what happened. We can't just let her get away. So either she lives in secret for the rest of her life, or we kill her. It's probably best to do the second thing."

"Even though she's done nothing wrong?"  
>"Death isn't always the worst option," I reminded her. "Sometimes living is worse off than being dead. You can suffer when you're alive." I finished getting dressed, making sure not to injure myself in the process, then turned around, grinning slightly. "Wait, don't tell me you like her and want her to live with us."<p>

My teasing tone clearly annoyed her, and she stomped her foot, crossing her arms.

"I am _not_ that pathetic!" she yelled at me, not bothering to turn around. "I just don't think that an innocent person should die because our family is so messed up. We didn't ask to be part of this life. We were born in it. We don't have any choice, but she has no part of this life at all."

"Alright, alright. Jeez. No need to get all hissy at me." I walked over to Kairi, trying to ignore the nasty pain in my chest from the wound. It'd probably opened again. Just my luck. "Anyway, where's Pyro?"

Kairi glanced up at me, then shook her head. "You guys are so weird, calling each other by your nicknames when we're not on a mission. Just call him Axel."

"Axel's too annoying of a name. Pyro fits his personality better."

"Why, because of his red hair?"

"No, because of his obsession with fire. You should hear Blondie talk about it. He hates how obsessed with fire Pyro can be."

"Why would Roxas care?"

"Because apparently instead of paying attention to him, Pyro likes to play with fire when they're not on duty." I grinned. The only good thing about Axel and Roxas was their little secret relationship they tried to hide from the boss. They didn't think he would 'approve' of it, so they just hid it from him. Luckily, he either didn't notice, or didn't comment on it.

If he did say something about it, the world would probably come to an end. Because Axel would set it on fire. And Roxas would help him. Only time Roxas would ever touch fire: to help Axel burn down the world because the boss knew about their fling.

"Well, Roxas needs to get over himself. And Axel's in foyer waiting for you. You should probably hurry. I hear he's desperate to meet the girl, and you know how horribly that would go." Kairi seemed to be worried, so I did as she said and left the room. Surprisingly, she didn't follow me, despite the fact that Vexen would yell at her were he here.

Eventually I ran into Axel. I had to stumble all the way down the stairs, and toward him, which for some reason made him grin. That sadistic, son of a-

"Yo, Snipe! Sup?" he greeted the moment I was close to him. I could see his eyes darting to the room the woman was in every few seconds. Kairi had been right about him wanting to meet her.

"Other than a bullet hole in the side of my chest, nothing much," I gasped, trying to catch my breath. It's amazing how much energy simple things take when you're injured.

"Well, good to know you're still as sarcastic and snarky as always," Axel replied, holding out a hand to help me. I glared at it, then continued out the door, trying to ignore his laughter resonating behind me.

* * *

><p>The drive to the main house was... well, boring. Axel tried to make conversation. I tried to ignore him. The driver tried not to laugh for fear of being murdered. Same old, same old. Things pretty much never change in this family.<p>

When we got there, the only interesting thing that happened was seeing the under worker Zexion pinning our main drug dealer, Demyx, to the wall as he asked about where the new shipment was. I wanted to ask them how things were going, just to piss off Zexion and scare Demyx, but Axel ushered me away from them before I could. Those two were... odd. And that's an understatement. Neither were actually part of the family, but both had such close dealings with the boss that we pretty much considered them part of it.

Like Axel.

The rest of the walk to the meeting room tired me out. Again. I could not wait for this stupid wound to heal.

When we got there, Axel opened the door, then grinned at me, saying, "Good luck in there, Snipe. I don't think Boss is very happy with ya. Got it memorized?" He snickered when I walked in, and my fists clenched. I hated his stupid catch phrase.

"Shut up," I snapped walking into the room. The sight before me wasn't something I was used to seeing. Most of the time the under bosses didn't bother showing in the main house, yet all of them were there. The boss and Sephiroth were sitting at the head, of course, and the others were surrounding a table that I rarely saw. Standing behind the boss was Saïx, the guy who did research on everyone. He scared me a little bit, I had to admit.

All of them were staring at me expectantly, so I sat down, trying not to let them know how nervous I happened to be. Or how much pain I was in. It didn't matter that I was Xemnas' nephew. They all would dispose of me in a second if I let them know how useless I was at the moment.

For a minute, no one said a word, but eventually the boss laughed.

"So, my precious nephew, I hear you were shot in a very... _deadly_ place, and the young woman who you brought to me saved you." I nodded, not wanting to say anything to him. "Well, I find that very intriguing." He leaned forward, placing his head in his hands. "Very intriguing indeed." I was very tempted to ask _why_ it was intriguing, just to bother the boss, but I figured I would be hurt for it.

In the back of the room, I noticed Cloud standing there, watching me curiously. He'd been there when the woman saved me. He seemed to know something about the whole situation, and I desperately wanted to ask him what he knew.

Only, the boss talked again before I could.

"It begs me to ask the question of why she saved your life. You, of all people. Had it been Kairi, I have no doubts she would have saved the young girl. But you're a murderer. The one who holds the dirtiest job of us all, and she saw you in action. Anyone in their right mind would have let you die."

"She probably isn't in her right mind," I said quietly, crossing my arms.

The boss smiled and said, "Always with the comebacks. You're just like your mother." I didn't want to say anything. The boss had wanted to marry my mother, but my father got to her first, and he ended up with the sister. For some reason this frustrated me. It's not like I had anything to do with their love life. I'm just the consequence. Yet he always treated me like he did my father.

Which is why I ended up as the hit-man.

Well, I guess that's only part of the story.

"Why am I here?" I asked. "As you mentioned, I was shot last night. I probably shouldn't be moving around."

This time, Saïx was the one to talk.

"We have information about that girl, and Don Xemnas wishes for you to know about it," he said, pulling out a file folder. How he found out who she was so quickly would be a mystery to me. He had all these weird sources that I didn't know about. No, sources I didn't _want_ to know about.

"Okay? Why do I have to-"

"Her name is Ellie Routh. She's a twenty-three year old psychology major with almost no money. She currently lives with her best friend, Ariadne Beckett, who has contacted the police with the fact that Miss Routh is currently missing. Both of her parents are dead, and she was adopted by a trauma surgeon who cut her off after she went into college. I have yet to find the reason." He placed the file on the table. "I do believe that's enough for now."

I could only think about her name. Ellie Routh. It sounded really familiar.

"Ellie Routh?" Apparently the name seemed familiar to the boss too. He had this look about him. One that didn't make sense. Curiosity maybe? "So, she isn't one of the law, nor does she have any sort of money." He paused for a moment, and I guessed he was going to say that she was completely useless to us, so we could dispose of her.

Which I wanted.

Well, kinda.

Kairi liked her, and she did save my life. But she also threatened my family. Which, you know, might actually not be that bad of a thing. Maybe it was time for the Strife family to lose their status in the underworld. Of course, the boss would definitely find a way to kill her, and Kairi was right about her being innocent in all of this.

Dammit! Why does murder of innocent people have to be so damn complicated?

"My nephew," the boss said suddenly, addressing me. I glanced at him, still wanting to know more about this Ellie girl. "The woman is someone I feel we can't lose. I want her to stay alive for a while longer. Maybe she'll prove useful to our family." He grinned. "Maybe she'll prove useful to you."

"What do you mean?"

"I want you to be the one to take care of her," he said, leaning back in his chair. I wanted to punch his lights out.

"Why the hell would I-"

"You're injured, my nephew. Last time I checked, you are useless to me when you cannot kill. However, instead of disposing of you, as the under bosses think is quite necessary, I have decided to put you to another use; you are to take care of Ellie Routh until the day I decide what we are going to do with her. This may take months. But I think you can handle it. Just make sure she doesn't die or do anything rash."

Oh. So he was going to use the dispose of me argument, huh? I should have known. Anyone who becomes useful is gotten rid of one way or another. I honestly wasn't in the mood to be killed, so I figured taking care of that Ellie girl wouldn't be so bad. Maybe.

"What exactly do you mean by take care? I'm not a babysitter. I don't know anything about how to watch over people. I kill them. I don't keep them alive."

"Well," Cloud said from behind his father, "maybe it's time you learned how." I glared at my cousin, wishing he would shut up.

"That's not gonna happen," I snapped at him, standing up. My chest complained. I ignored it. "I'll do my best, but I can't make any promise. Is that all?" All of the under bosses, except for Sephiroth, begun muttering to themselves. I heard words like, insolent, and rude, and hate, but they talk about me like that all the time, so I didn't care.

"Yes," the boss said, grinning. He was amused by my actions. "Cloud, will you please escort Riku out? He seems to be in pain, and it would be such a bother for him to pass out in my house."

I snorted. "I don't need an escort, Boss."

"Cloud?" The boss nodded at his son, who rolled his eyes then walked over to me. He grabbed my arm and began pulling me out of the room, which I didn't protest against. There was no reason to protest because I wanted out of there. Before we could leave, the boss called out to me again.

"Oh, Riku?"

"Yes?" I asked, turning around.

"As far as I'm concerned, Miss Ellie Routh is yours. As long as she stays alive, you can use her however you want." He hinted at something there that made me feel sick. Before I could respond, Cloud yanked me out of the room and closed the door, eyes narrowed.

"You okay?" I asked when he let go of me and headed toward the door. He just grunted, hands in his pockets. "Did what the boss said bother you? Like, really bother you? Is it because of the fact he doesn't like you sleeping with Tifa, yet he basically just told me I should with this random girl we've never really met before?"

Cloud turned around and glared at me. His entire body tensed, and I tried to mentally prepare myself for a fist fight. Which wouldn't be good.

"It's not any of your business, Riku."

"Actually, I think it is."

"No, it's not. You just go and deal with Ellie. I'm sure she wants to know you're alright."

"Why would she want to know that?"

"Because she saved you. She wanted to save you. She respects human life no matter what, which is something I think you should respect in her."

"No, that's something I think is stupid of her," I snapped. He was really getting on my nerves. I mean, seriously. Cloud didn't used to be like this at all.

"Then you're ignorant. Now come on. I'm supposed to take you back to your place. You're the one who's going to tell Miss Routh that she's not going to die." Yeah, not how I wanted to spend my Sunday. Dealing with some random psychologist who had no money and probably hated my guts. That sounded wonderful.

I couldn't wait to be able to drink again.

* * *

><p>Kairi wasn't home when I got there, which surprised me. One of the maids in the house said she'd run off to deal with something important, and that I shouldn't call her no matter what. I wondered what she was doing. This hadn't been the first time she'd run off and didn't communicate with anyone for quite a while. Maybe she had some kind of secret boyfriend or something.<p>

That would explain why she'd become more feminine. I realized then that I would have to ask her about it as soon as she got home. Well, if I hadn't passed out by then.

After Cloud took off, I glanced over at the door where Ellie Routh was staying. No noise came from the room, and I became curious as to what she was up to in there. Maybe sleeping, except for the fact that it was about one in the afternoon. Why would someone be asleep? Well, if they were tired then that would make sense. Maybe she was tired. She probably had some kind of psychological thing going on in her head that wouldn't make sense to me.

Who wouldn't after being kidnapped? Well, me probably. But I'd seen the worst in people. All the time. If a person can do it, I've seen it be done, and I've probably killed someone for doing it.

For a while I debated going in to talk to her. Maybe I could just get Kairi to do it for me. Let her know that she had to live with us for as long as the boss wanted her to. Who knew how long that could be?

Eventually I decided that I should be the one to talk to her. Chances are Kairi wouldn't have as much communication as I would. After all, the boss seemed determined to get me to talk to her. Maybe he hoped I would hate her enough to dispose of her on my own and the blood wouldn't be on his hands. I don't know why the death of this woman would bug him, but most things the boss does doesn't make sense to me.

I walked over to her door, and opened it as quietly as I could, slightly surprised to find it unlocked. Not that she could escape, but you'd think Roxas would have locked it last night. Axel told me he was the one to take her back to her room.

When I entered the room, I saw her sitting on the bed, back to me. For some reason, seeing her sitting there, disheveled, sent my mind into overdrive, and I couldn't stop thinking about how cute she looked. Sitting there, alone, on the bed. I closed my eyes to calm myself.

The boss told me I could use her for whatever I wanted. He had been implying that I could use her basically as a sex toy. It made me sick, but for some reason I didn't mind hearing that as much as I thought I would.

She didn't notice I was there, or she did and was just ignoring me, so I cleared my throat, announcing to her that I wanted to talk. She jumped and turned around, eyes wide, and face splattered with blood. Apparently she hadn't taken a shower, or even changed clothes since she saved me. Probably didn't feel comfortable enough to do so.

When she saw me, she stood up and backed away, heading going down so she looked at the floor. I smirked at her reaction.


	8. I looked up and saw you

**So, I said I would post this yesterday. Didn't happen. Too much exhaustion needed for Sune's brain to function.  
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**Anyway, this is still unedited, which I forgot to mention in the last chapter. I really don't have time to deal with editors with my novels being prepared for publication.  
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**So yeah. No one reviewed so I can't say anything to anyone, but thanks to any readers out there :)  
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**Remember to review this time please! I really need the advice! Also, will probably post chapter 9 here soon. Once I go over it.  
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**~Sunechirei  
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_**Full**** Chapter Title: I looked up and saw you, I know that you saw me. We froze but for a moment in empathy (Audience of One, Rise Against)**  
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><p><strong>Ellie<strong>_  
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The moment of silence that followed me noticing Riku was about as awkward as it could get. Especially since he smirked at me after I got up and backed away from him. His blood covering my clothes didn't make it any better, and for some reason that's what caused me to blush.

After the initial shock of seeing him disappeared, I managed to look up at him again, holding back a question I really wanted to ask, but knew I shouldn't. It would only anger him. After all, most guys didn't like being saved by a girl, much less being questioned about the feelings coming from that saving.

His pale face concerned me slightly. It was like staring at a person who'd just passed out, or had never seen the light of day before. Not only that, but through his smirk I could see frustration. His jaw was tense, eyebrows knitted, and his hands were clenched by his sides. He either had really bad news for me, or really bad news for himself.

"Are you alright?" I hadn't even realized I'd asked the question until it was out there. The only thing I could do was wait for an answer and hope he wouldn't try and hurt me for asking that.

He glared at me, then muttered, "I'm fine," before turning around to head out of the room. I moved toward the bed, and crawled on it, thinking of something to say. For some reason, I didn't want him to leave the room.

"Why did you come in here?" I asked, moving closer to him. He stopped, hand on the doorknob, but didn't turn around. "It doesn't really make sense. You hate me, right? Then why did you come in here?"

"It's none of your business." He faced me.

"I think it is, actually. I'm the one involved."

"Doesn't mean you have to know anything about me." This time, my eyes narrowed, and I swung my legs over the edge of the bed. He was watching me intently. Just waiting for something to happen.

"No, but I'd like to know. In particular, I'd like to know why you act so strange around me. You didn't just kill me in that alley. You could have. Well, unless you didn't have anymore bullets, which I doubt. Even then, I'm sure you carry a knife with you. Why did you knock me out? Bring me to your boss? Then why did you knock me out again when you thought I was going to be killed?" I waited for a moment for him to answer, but he said nothing, so I laughed an continued. "Then, when I was saving your ass, you couldn't take your eyes off me. Well, until you passed out. Why is that?"

"I was delirious. I hardly remember anything at all about last night. If I _was_ staring at you, then it was because you just happened to be there," he countered, leaning against the door. "And what about you? Why did you save me? I would have died back there if it weren't for you. Why didn't you just let me die."

Oh. I'd been hoping he wouldn't ask that kind of question. I clenched my teeth, thinking of something to say, when I noticed that the color in his skin had vanished almost completely. He looked like he was about to pass out.

"My motives aren't important," I snapped, hoping to end this conversation. I hadn't wanted him to leave earlier for some reason. Now I wanted him gone so he could get some rest. I didn't want to deal with him passing out on me. "What is important, is that I saved you. You do realize this means you're in my debt, so you shouldn't be such a jerk to me."

That was the wrong thing to say. I guess it made Riku snap, because he pushed away from the door and stormed over to me. Before I could react, he grabbed the collar of my bloody shirt and yanked me off of the bed. We were ridiculously close to each other.

"I don't owe you anything, bitch. If you mouth off to me again, I'm going to have to punish you for it." He grinned. "Trust me. I don't care that you saved me at all. That's something you did. I didn't ask you to. So I will do whatever the hell I want to you, whenever I want, and you can't do anything about it."

His tone startled me. I couldn't quite make out what he really meant by that, but I didn't want him to know that.

"You can't do anything to me," I told him. "Do anything rash, and your wound will open again. I don't think you really want to bleed out, because I won't save you this time if you do." I placed a hand on his chest and shoved him away. He let go of me and backed away, crossing his arms.

"You don't really care, do you?" he asked me. I cocked my head.

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"You taunt me," he said, stepping away, "you're rude, violent, vicious, annoying, and frustrating. You do realize you're stuck in the house of the hit-man working for the Traverse City Mafia, right? You know that I could kill you in a second with no regrets, right?" He stopped, eyes never leaving me. "You really don't care that I want you dead?"

I gulped, trying to keep my composure. "If you really wanted me dead, you would have killed me already."

"Not necessarily. I could be waiting for you to fall asleep then scare the living shit out of you in the middle of the night."

"Or you could have orders to keep me alive, which is what's really going on here." This time, I moved toward him, feeling extremely confident. "You're too cocky of a guy to let a mistake happen. I'm that mistake. You want to get rid of me. No, you _have_ to get rid of me or it's going to bug your conscience until the day you die. You're the kind of guy who's never messed up before. The kind who everyone thinks is perfect, despite being a complete psychopath. If you didn't have orders from your boss to keep me alive, then I would be dead right now." I grinned.

I'd gone to school with a lot of guys like him. A lot of cocky, annoying, frustrating guys who I wanted to smack half the time. I guess doing this could sort of be a substitute for a slap, especially since Riku seemed to be the type to not understand a lot about psychology. He just did what he was told and moved on with his life.

A pawn.

A fucking pawn.

"The question I have for you," I continued when he didn't say anything, "is why your boss would want to keep me alive? Or are you too ignorant to figure it out?"

"I'm hardly ignorant." He flicked his hair out of his face. I couldn't quite figure out why a hit-man kept his hair so long. It honestly made no sense. "I know perfectly well why the boss wants you alive. It's just none of your business."

"My life, my business. I say just kill me now. It'll be a hell of a lot easier on you if you do."

"Sorry, no can do."

"Why not?"

"Do I have to keep repeating myself?" Riku shook his head, clearly frustrated. "It's not any of your business what goes on in this family. All you need to know is you're stuck here, in this room, until the boss decides otherwise. If you have a problem with that, well I'm sorry. I don't give a flying fuck!"

"Obviously you do because you keep arguing with me about it."

The look that crossed his face seriously terrified me. I don't even know how to explain it, because it was just so... messed up. Like a killer. Which, of course, he is, but that thought didn't occur to me at that moment. I could only shake as he walked toward me again, eyes flashing with anger, and I gulped.

Had I pushed him too far?

"So, does Miss Ellie Routh think that just because she's a psychology major that she can figure people out so easily?" My eyes widened. How did he know my name? My profession? What else did he know about me?

"Wh-What do you-"

"Let me explain something to you, _Ellie._" He hissed my name before he reached forward and grabbed the back of my neck. He pulled me forward so I was only inches away from his face, staring into his extremely blue eyes. I found myself unable to breath. "You don't know shit about me, or about this family. I don't care about you. No one here does. They may act like it, but every single person here is out for themselves, and only themselves."

He moved slightly closer to me, and for some reason I thought he was going to kiss me.

"Then why are you in here?"

"Curiosity," he answered, pushing me away. "I wanted to know why you would save my life. No one seems to be able to explain it to me without saying I have to talk to you." He held out his hands and backed away. I could tell that he was struggling to do this though. "I've talked to you. The only thing I can get is that you're a bitch who thinks she knows everything."

"Hey! That's not-" I tried to argue, feeling my own rage rise. I wasn't selfish.

"Not fair?" Riku laughed. "Guess what, Princess. Life ain't fair. Shit happens and it happens when you're least expecting it. You clearly don't see yourself for who you really are. Which is really funny."

"You're a jackass. I should have just let you die."

"Yeah, you should have. So why didn't you?"

I clenched my fist again. My nails dug into my skin, but I ignored the pain, wanting nothing more than to just sock this guy in the face.

"I asked you a question, Princess. Why didn't you just let me die." Apparently I gained a new nickname. Wonderful.

"Because even though you're some kind of freak of nature murderer, you're still a human," I muttered, not sure why I bothered explaining this to him. "You still have people who care about you, and there's gotta be some kind of good in you. I'm not the kind of girl who would just let someone die when I have the power to save them."

"So, you're basically the opposite of me?" I couldn't figure out why that amused him so much. It wasn't something to laugh about. He just admitted that he was nothing more than a freak who enjoyed killing.

"Yeah. I am."

"Good."

I opened my mouth to argue back, but then I realized what he said. "Good." Not an argument. For some reason I doubted he even knew what he said until after the word came out. Mainly because he looked away from me, hiding whatever expression was on his face. I became completely confused.

"Good?" I asked. "I thought you didn't care about me. Why would it be good that I'm nothing like you."

"Slip of the tongue, obviously," Riku said.

"I doubt it."

His glare softened, and I became afraid again. I took a step back, wondering what nonsense he was going to pull on me, then flinched when he walked in my direction. I didn't open my eyes until I felt his hand brush against my cheek, and I blushed.

His hand was really warm.

"You... you're really different, but at the same time..." I glanced up at him, cheeks pink, and watched him back away, and finally leave the room.

I sunk down so I sat on the bed, hand going up to where his touched my skin, wondering why it burned like it did. Why he'd suddenly become so gentle with me. It didn't make any sense at all. I tried to ignore the odd feeling bubbling up in my stomach by laying down on the bed and closing my eyes. I wanted all of this to just disappear.


	9. I stand for something

**Yeah, here I am. Again. Chapter 9. Just because school's out and I have nothing better to do. Yay...**

**So, I'm slowly working on this story. It seems like I'm writing quickly but I'm actually currently writing chapter 19, so... **

**To Invader Ivy: Thanks so much for the review! Sora is in this story. He's the captain of the police force ;) And yes, he'll show up more. He has to. He's the reason the climax happens. **

**Anyway, please read, and review. Please. Please. Please review. Thanks :)**

**~Sunechirei**

**_Full Chapter Title: I stand for something, you and me we stand for something (All Signs Point to Lauderdale, A day to Remember)  
><em>**

* * *

><p><strong>Ven<strong>

Contacting Cloud Strife wasn't easy. Yeah, he happened to be the communications guy for his family, which is why he'd contacted Terra on more than one occasion to talk to him about his voting ways, but that didn't make it easy to find him. Like most of the other members of the family, Cloud knew how to hide in the shadows.

Luckily, it wasn't almost like he knew when I needed to talk to him. I guess you could say we've known each other for a long time. He, his cousin Riku, and I grew up in the same neighborhood. You could call us friends. Or, you could have called us that. Then they started to pay attention to their family more than anyone else.

They're the reason I became a cop in the first place. Aqua too. Terra went into politics because he didn't like how much power the Strife family had in the town. They practically owned his parents.

It would make sense for them to be a part of this murder and kidnapping. They were certainly capable of it. No one would testify against them, and proof could never be found that they were capable of it, but we all knew otherwise. If only the law made it easier to catch them in the act.

Back to Cloud.

I sat in a coffee shop near my old neighborhood, trying to figure out a way to contact him when he showed up out of nowhere. Literally. I'd been scanning the room, watching everyone. I was still on duty, so if someone did something against the law I had to deal with it. Granted, the people who came here were hardly law breakers, but I was twitchy. I couldn't help but watch them all.

When I turned back around to face the opposite side of my table, I saw Cloud sitting there, eyes on me. I jumped, feeling like I'd just had a heart attack, and sighed. He liked to do that for some reason. Apparently scaring me is fun. He and Riku did it all the time when we were younger. Aqua would yell at them for it sometimes.

"Did you want something from me, Ventus?" he asked, fiddling with the sugar packets on the table. For some reason his nervous habit entertained me.

"Why would you think that?" I picked up my coffee and took a sip from it, hoping he wouldn't suspect why I was here. Knowing Cloud, he so would figure it out, but a guy can dream. It would be nice if for once he didn't know everything.

"Just call it a hunch," Cloud replied. He glanced behind him quickly. "If you have something you want to say to me, hurry up and say it. I have other things I have to be doing." Other people he had to meet, probably.

"Well, yesterday I saw something interesting at the place where Senator Terra was killed."

"Oh?"

"I saw Axel and Roxas, your father's two main body guards." I leaned toward him. "Now, what were they doing there?" A smirk tugged at Cloud's normally stoic face which didn't make me happy. "Also, I'd like the alibis of you, Riku, and those two for the evening. Actually, make that all of your family."

Cloud shook his head, laughing a little bit. "You honestly think one of the mafia groups in this town is involved in the death of the senator?" His laughter got louder. "I do believe you've lost what made you special, Ventus. Your ability to look beneath the surface and find things that no one else could... I guess you're just a normal cop now."

I ignored his taunt. I hadn't lost my "ability." It wasn't just something that went away over night. From his little speech, I found out two things; he knew something I didn't about the murder, and he also probably knew about Ellie's kidnapping. Only, it might not be his family that pulled it off. It might be the group in the Hallow Bastion Ghetto.

Mickey might not be the kind of guy who would be willing to pull something like this off, but that didn't mean others in his group wouldn't. I couldn't trust that sociopath, Maleficent, and I definitely couldn't trust her "friend" Jafar. Both of them had caused a lot of ruckus in the city when they rose up to get back at the "higher man."

Whatever that meant.

"You're family's had a beef with Terra for a long time. Even when we were younger you and Riku didn't like him. Especially not Riku. It wouldn't at all surprise me that you would want him dead with the way he was planning to vote and all." It would hurt, but it wouldn't surprise me at all.

"Even if it was my family who did it," Cloud said slowly, picking his words carefully, "then I would have nothing to do with it. Riku either. Don't you know how a family mafia works? The higher you are on the food chain, the less you have to do with criminal activities. Seeing as I'm the son of the boss, I'm pretty high up."

"What about the others? Would they do it? Anyone in Hallow Bastion? I know they hated Terra with a burning passion. Probably more than you guys did."

"I don't know the inner workings of the other group, Ventus," Cloud replied, smiling. "We know as much about them as you do, which isn't very much, based on the strain I'm detecting in your voice." He leaned forward. "You guys really haven't found _anything_ on this murder case? I figured you would have. This case is top priority, right? What's been keeping you from finding anything."

"A smart murderer," I snapped. "But it's none of your business. You gave up the right to know these things when you went into the world of crime."

"And you gave up the right to know about my family when you entered the world of what you call justice. Yet I still give you the information you want."

"Hardly. It's like pulling a ball out of molasses."

"That's because you don't ask the right questions."

"And those would be?"

"It's not my job to tell you."

I hated it when Cloud became difficult like this. Getting information became even harder, and quite often it wasn't correct. If he didn't know an answer, then he would often make something up, or give me the answer I wanted to hear rather than the true one, just to see me become flustered. I would have stopped talking to him already, but every now and then he did get me good information.

I wondered if his dad knew about his talking to me. Probably not.

"Look, just help me out. I don't care what you give me. Just give me something."

"I've given you all I know."

"Cloud, I've known you forever. I know when you're hiding something from me, and you are."

"Clearly I'm not. You must be mistaken because your so upset over you friend's death. If that's all you want, then I'm going to leave now." He stood up, but I wasn't done. I had one more thing to ask him about. Well, in a way I had two things to ask him about, but for some reason I didn't want him knowing about Ellie.

"I know that Riku's father was a hit-man. He got the death penalty for his crimes. But what about Riku? Did he take over the family business?" It wasn't really a family business. In fact, there was no proof at all that his dad worked for the family. All I know is that he killed a lot of people, and was caught for it. The courts sentenced him to death as punishment.

For once in my life I saw Cloud's facade break. He actually broke character and seemed to be worried for a minute. It only lasted that, a minute, but it was enough time for me to know I caught onto something.

"Riku would never do something like that," Cloud answered smoothly, composing himself again.

"Oh, he isn't? But someone in your family would?"

"It would be a lie for me to say that no one in my family is capable of murder, Ventus. I would never say who, because, well, they're capable of murder. Just think of what they could do to me? But Riku honestly isn't one of them. You of all people should know that." He glared at me, seeming to remind me of when we were younger.

I tried to ignore this.

"People change," I reminded him. "You've changed. I've changed. I'm sure Riku has too. Not that I've talked to him at all recently."

"Would you like to? I'm sure he'd be glad to talk to you. Clear his name, maybe. You'll get to see exactly why Riku couldn't have killed Terra." Cloud gestured to the door as he stood up. "I'll be willing to take you there." He seemed slightly desperate, but I wasn't going to judge him for that. I was just as desperate.

"To Riku's place? Last time I checked it's not to far from here. I can just walk."

"If you'd like to get attacked by dogs and security, be my guest," Cloud said, clearly mocking me. "There's been a... situation at the house recently, so the security's been doubled. I'm sure you understand, right?"

A situation? This didn't sound good. But what could I do? The only possible way for me to completely mark the Traverse City Mafia off the list of suspects was to make sure the one guy I had my sights on couldn't have done it. Sure, others there could have, but for some reason I doubted this. I could figure out why Riku was the one on my list. Sephiroth would be a much better suspect. I know for a fact that he's killed before, even though we couldn't convict him.

"What situation?"

"You'll see. Are you coming?" He didn't wait for me to answer before heading out of the cafe. I let out groan and followed him, knowing that this was the only thing I could do to find out if Riku was innocent or not.

* * *

><p>When guard dogs aren't on duty, they're actually really nice. They like to jump up on you and lick your face, and wag their tails, and be all sweet and friendly. When they have a job to do, on the other hand, I wish they would disappear. I say this because when we got to the mansion Riku inherited from his parents, the guard dogs were sitting on the front porch, seeming to be waiting for Cloud.<p>

At first I thought they were going to eat my face. They're guard dogs, after all. Their job is to guard their masters. It didn't at all help that when I got closer, they lifted their heads up and stared at me with tiny, black eyes. Their collars were black and red. Probably something Riku wanted. It seemed like his kind of thing.

I stopped walking when I got close enough to really see their eyes, which caused Cloud to laugh. He then whistled, and all four dogs jumped to their feet, tails wagging, and barked as they ran over to Cloud and jumped on him.

I thought he was going to die.

"No need to be afraid of them," he explained to me, petting the largest of the group. "They haven't been ordered to attack. They won't harm you. Just imagine they're, oh, I don't know, chihuahuas or something."

I wanted to tell him that chihuahuas were dangerous and evil. Why else would skimpy women with fake breasts and no personality carry them around all the time?

Instead of saying that, though, I shook my head, trying to clear away the images of blood and gore, and continued to walk. One of the smaller dogs came up and sniffed my pant leg, then growled. Immediately I backed away from it.

"I don't think small dogs can growl like that," I said, voice shaking slightly. I'd never liked dogs very much.

"Don't worry about her-" _Her?_ "-she doesn't like cops. She can smell the police station on you."

Yeah. That made me feel better.

"Kitara, heel," Cloud snapped. Immediately the dog left my side and went over to Cloud's. She whined and jumped up on him. I began think that if this is what the guard dogs were like, then the human security must be absolutely terrifying. I mean, these dogs were pretty nasty, but humans could also think for themselves. They could decide when to attack.

"Can we go see Riku now?" I asked. I don't really know why I was so afraid. It might have to do with the fact that an attack dog, on this property, sent me to the ER with a bunch of puncture wounds. I've hated dogs ever since then.

"If you insist." Cloud dismissed the dogs, then opened the front door.

I didn't always understand this house. Yeah, it was a mansion. Yeah, it was ridiculously huge and I hated even passing by it because it reminded me of how corrupt the system could be, but at the same time it seemed almost... homely. Or, the front did. Some of the rooms too, if my memory serves me correctly.

When we walked inside, I did my best to ignore how lavish the place was. I tried, and I pretty much succeeded, especially when I noticed the large blood stain on the carpet in the middle of the room. I stopped in my tracks.

"What's that from?" I asked. Cloud glanced back at me.

"You'll see."

I said nothing else and the two of us walked farther into the house. We passed by a few rooms, most with their doors open, but one had the door closed. I glanced over it quickly, noticing a few blood smears on the handle and the wood, but didn't question it. A guest was probably sleeping in there. They wouldn't want to be disturbed.

Well, more like it could lead to my death were I to disturb anyone with a temper.

Cloud led me to the very back of the entrance, where I remember the sitting room to be. When he pushed open the door, a warmth greeted me that probably shouldn't have existed in the house during the spring months. It wasn't cold, and it didn't snow, after all.

I noticed a fire going on in the back of the room, and a young woman I didn't recognize tending to it. I figured she was Riku's girlfriend or something.

"So, Ventus. Why don't you ask Riku why he couldn't have shot Senator Terra a few nights ago."

Rolling my eyes, I expected to see some kind of fake play going on where Riku acted injured or something, but what I saw wasn't that. I saw Riku sitting on the couch far away from the fire, with an extremely pale face, and somewhat distant eyes. He seemed to be in pain.

"Is he sick or something?" I asked. I didn't think Riku could hear me, but when I talked, he jerked up and glared at me. That nasty gaze brought back... interesting memories from my childhood, and I backed away instantly. The only people who could ever really strike fear in my heart: Riku and Cloud Strife.

"I'm not sick, you insolent brat," he spat at me, despite the fact that he was only a year older than me. He liked to think of me as a brat.

"Then why are you-" I glanced over at the young woman in the corner. She'd stood up, and faced us now. Something seemed oddly familiar about her that I couldn't quite place. "Why are you sitting here, pale, and in pain."

"I'm not in pain," he snapped.

"Sure you're not." I glanced back to see if Cloud would back me up, but he'd vanished. Wonderful. "Then why are you so irritable. You're normally calm and composed."

"You obviously haven't talked to me in a while," Riku said, laughing. The laughter turned into a slight cough. "I've turned into a complete jackass since we stopped talking. Well, I was already one, but I got worse."

Clearly.

"Well, what proof is there that you had nothing to do with Senator Terra's murder?" I could fathom many things going on. Maybe Riku had been out of town and got sick with a disease you can only get in another country now. That would be a good excuse.

To my surprise, he stood up and lifted up his shirt, revealing a bloody bandage.

"I got shot, you idiot," he said, letting his shirt go. I didn't move. There went everything. The blood in the hall would be his. He must have been shot for some reason then brought back here because they didn't want the press to know about it. The wound was still fresh. It could easily be three days old, or more, which would mean that he couldn't have pulled it off.

It would still be possible for someone else in the family to have done it, but I didn't know who that might be, and if I tried to talk to anyone else, I would have a very difficult time getting the information I wanted. This either led to a dead end in the sense that the family wasn't involved, or it led to a dead end in that there would be no way to get the convicted. Riku would have been much easier than anyone else.

"How did you get shot?"

My voice shook with frustration. This investigation was going absolutely nowhere.

"I stopped a few guys from raping a woman," Riku said calmly, sitting down again. "When she got away, they clearly weren't happy with me and one of the pulled a gun. I back away and started to head home, only to get shot when one of them called out to me." He grinned. "For future reference, Ven, when someone sick enough to do that calls out to you, just keep running."

The young woman by the fire scowled, and crossed her arms.

"This isn't exactly the time to be joking around," she said before turning to me. "Detective Ventus, correct?" I nodded.

"I'm not really a detective right now though. So you can just call me Ven."

She smiled. "Alright. It might just be because I'm Riku's sister, but I know for a fact that Riku would never be capable of killing." I couldn't tell if she was lying or not. Something about her words bugged me. Had I met her before?

"That's nice to hear, Miss..."

"Kairi." That name seemed really familiar. Where had I heard it before?

"Miss Kairi. But irrelevant. I'm not going to make Riku go to the hospital to see when he got shot, because that would be rude, but I don't think anyone who would murder someone else would be stupid enough to get themselves shot not long after. So clearly he couldn't have done it."

A relief appeared on Kairi's face, and she nodded.

"Alright. Would you like me to see you out? The security's been increased because Onkel is afraid someone might try and take advantage of him by using Riku as bait."

"Not something you need to say," Riku muttered.

"Oh shut it," Kairi snapped.

I laughed nervously, finally believing that the two of them were related. "It's fine, Miss. I can see myself out. I don't think your dogs will hurt me, and the guards at the front will probably recognize me."

They both nodded, Riku going back into his little slumber, and Kairi sitting on the couch next to him. The moment I was out of the room, I groaned. I didn't know what I would do if I couldn't find out who killed Terra. I didn't know what Aqua would do.

"Shit."


	10. I'm not afraid of tomorrow

**So, here's chapter 10 :D I don't really have much to say other than thanks to all the people who reviewed. I don't know how many of you I've replied to since I've been so busy, but I'll get on that.  
><strong>

**Please enjoy and review. Thanks!  
><strong>

**~Sunechirei  
><strong>

**_Full Chapter Title: I'm not afraid of tomorrow, I'm only scared of myself (Tomorrow, Sr-71)_**

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><p><strong>Riku<strong>_  
><em>

"Cloud is an idiot!"

"Calm down, Riku. I'm sure he knew what he was doing."

"Bringing Ventus here? That guy's one of the smartest cops on the force. If anyone's going to figure out anything, it's going to be him." I leaned back in my chair, glad for the heat of the fire. I couldn't seem to get warm any other way.

"But he didn't figure anything out," Kairi explained to me, sitting on the arm of my chair. "He thought he might, but he didn't. We're in the clear. They won't suspect us again. And he passed by the room that girl is in without wanting to search it. You know how he can be with closed doors in this house."

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I know that. Don't know how you do, seeing as you've never met him before."

"I watch the news. I see how easily he can crack cases, and how well he does it. You may avoid watching it so you don't have to watch people really react to the death's you cause, but I do. I need to know what's going on. You should start doing so too."

Kairi bugged me at times. She always wanted me to act more like her, despite the two of us being completely different people. She could be really, _really_ annoying at times, and even though I felt like I had to be nice to her most of those times, often I wished the boss would just tell her to leave the house.

I hated it when I thought like that. It made me feel almost like I had no right to live if I wanted my own sister to live on the streets.

"The news it stupid. They don't understand our family at all, and they do nothing but make the city be afraid of us."

"Shouldn't they be afraid of us?" Kairi asked. "I mean, we are the leading drug dealers in the city and we're not exactly nice when it comes to the people who go against us. People know that if they don't do what we want, then they'll either be killed or tortured in some way. I think it's okay for the media to mention those things."

"They over dramatize the whole thing."

"No they don't, and you know it."

I kept my mouth shut, not wanting to argue with her about this. For one thing, I didn't have the energy, for another I had no patience to deal with her. She had this way about her arguing where she didn't give up no matter what. That frustrated me to no end.

Instead I leaned back in my chair and closed my eyes, wanting to sleep. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be allowed to sleep. I had other things I needed to do. Like, talk to Ellie again. Kairi had gotten angry with me for acting like a jerk – which is my personality – and she wanted me to apologize. I wouldn't apologize, but I would try to talk to her again.

"Whatever. Next time Cloud does something stupid like that, I'm gonna-"

"What?" I hadn't heard Cloud enter the room, but he talked, and he sounded pissed. "You're going to do what, Riku?" he asked again when I didn't answer him. "I did what I had to in order to get Ventus off our trail. He's smart, and he knows how much we hated Terra. All of us. He's determined to find an answer to his question, and if he does find an answer, you know you're going to jail, Riku."

I watched in silence while he walked further into the room. When he stopped in front of me, I tried to keep myself calm. The way he was staring at me made me nervous, like he knew something about the situation I didn't.

He always had that look on his face.

I hated it with a burning passion.

"Which would you rather," he continued, "a ten minute conversation in the comfort of your own home which would throw Vanitus off our trail, or a multiple day interrogation where they find out the same information because we would lie our asses off, and probably get rid of Miss Routh so they wouldn't find her."

To be honest, I liked the second idea better. Kinda. Mainly because it meant Ellie would be disposed of and I wouldn't have to deal with her any more. But it would also mean that I would have to deal with police for a long time.

The pros and cons were balanced.

"Of course this is better," Kairi interjected. "Ellie doesn't need to die because of us. If Detective Ven is put off by this, then there's no reason for us to get angry, right? He won't be back here, so there's nothing to worry about."

Cloud snorted.

"See, your little sister gets it," he said, clearly mocking me. I wanted to punch him. Only that would require getting up and moving, which I didn't want to do. I'd dealt with enough blood recently.

"Sorry I'm not her," I snapped back. "What you just did there wasn't smart. It was stupid. Beyond that. If the boss knew about it, I don't have any doubts that he would probably kick you onto the streets. Maybe even get you killed." Okay, this wouldn't happen, but my brain wasn't working right and I was pissed. "Who cares that he's your dad? Bringing Ven here, not only a few days after I killed his best friend, but also while the girl we kidnapped is still in the house is probably the stupidest thing you've ever done. And you've done some stupid ass stuff."

Cloud rolled his eyes. "It's hardly the stupidest thing I've ever done. And you need to calm down. It's over now. We probably won't have to deal with the police on this issue anymore. Father says that we're going to lay low for a while until he figures out what to do with Miss Routh. So until she's gone, we won't have to deal with the police at all."

'Until she's gone...'

That sentence disturbed me. I couldn't figure out why, but it just did. Yeah, it would be nice to not have to deal with the police, but how long would that last? And what would we do to her? If she was going to be killed, the boss would have done it already. I couldn't figure out why he was so determined to keep her alive because he hated witnesses as much as I did. More so, probably. If anything threatened his family, he would make sure they were gone.

Ellie Routh had become a threat to the family. Yet he wanted to keep her alive. Not only did he want to keep her alive, he wanted me to watch over her.

"Hey, Cloud-" I started to say, wanting to ask him what was going on in the head of his stupid dad, but he rudely interrupted me.

"I want to meet her." Both Kairi and I gave him an odd look.

"What?" Kairi asked in a quiet voice. I nearly repeated her question, but again, Cloud interrupted me.

"I want to meet Ellie Routh. The woman who saw you kill the senator. Is that really hard to understand?"

"Well, I figured that," I snapped. "But what do you mean? Why do you want to meet her? Haven't you already?" Cloud made no sense. Again. Probably the only person in the world who could even remotely understand that weirdo would have to be his girlfriend... er... lover. Whatever Tifa was.

"I want to know more about her and her personality. Where is she? Through the door that's closed, correct?" Neither of us answered him, and he just grinned. "Good. I thought I had the right place. See you guys later."

Shaking my head, I stood up, trying to be careful. "She's probably asleep, so you should leave her alone." The moment I said that I wish I hadn't. Both Kairi and Cloud shot me odd looks, and I mean odd. Looks that basically questioned every word in that sentence and probably twisted the meaning around and made me sound like some kind of over protective boyfriend or something.

Freaks.

"Look, she's going to be living here, and I don't want her to be annoying. Which means I'm going to have to give her a lot of what she wants, including sleep, so-"

"Riku, shut your mouth before you make me wonder about your relationship with Miss Routh," Cloud snorted, shaking his head. My eyes narrowed.

"I hate her. That's the relationship."

"Oh, so angry sex. Got it."

"Wait, what?" Kairi's high, confused, voice came out of nowhere and bugged the hell out of me. Seriously, bugged me. So much that I glared at her, and she shrunk back, pressing her body against the wall by the fire place. This, of course, caused Cloud to start laughing in that stupid monotone chuckle of his. I swear that Tifa deserved better than Cloud. He was so boring, and dull.

"Did Riku not tell you? Father practically gave him the green light to sleep with Miss Routh. Who knew that Riku actually kept those things a secret." This must have been pay back for what I said when I was drunk.

Which isn't fair because I was, you know, _drunk_, and Cloud definitely wasn't at the moment. His head was probably clearer than anyone's.

"It's not a secret. It's just not important, and I have no plans on doing anything but making sure she doesn't get away, doesn't die, and doesn't get hurt until the boss decides what to do with her. So fuck off."

"Alright. I will. While I'm on my way out, I'll be sure to tell Miss Routh that she's in luck because you have no intention on sleeping with her. That should ease her mind a little bit." He turned to leave, saying, "Or maybe she'll be a little upset. You never know what could be going through her head. I could see her being the kind of girl who would be pathetic enough to fall for her good looking, murderous, captor."

For some reason that pissed me off. No, not just pissed me off, made me so angry that I actually grabbed the glass of water Kairi had brought for me and chucked it at Cloud's back. He ducked just in time for it to crash into the door where he'd been standing, glass shattering into pieces, and water dripping down the door.

"Riku!" Kairi grabbed my arm and pushed it against my side, trying to force me back into my seat. Cloud only glanced at me from the corner of his eye, a blank expression on his face, before he opened the door and left.

"Riku, what the hell was that for?" Kairi asked, still trying to push me down. I shoved her away and walked to the door myself, wanting to follow Cloud and make sure he didn't do something stupid. I didn't doubt that Ellie would do something rash, were she angry enough. If he was going to talk to her, then she would probably become more angry and upset than she already was. If this happened, then there was a chance she would do something stupid, and I would get blamed for it.

Yeah, that had to be the reason I was so pissed at Cloud.

"It's none of your business," I finally snapped at Kairi before heading out of the room. She called after me. I ignored her and moved on, trying to catch up to my idiotic cousin before he could get to Ellie's room.

Eventually I did, though I think it's only because Cloud slowed down enough for me to catch up to him.

"I don't think it's a good idea for you to see her," I said the moment I could breath again. It's amazing how difficult walking is when you've been shot in the chest.

"Why not? Do you think she'll fall in love with me or something?" This was a Cloud I hadn't seen in years. The flirty, "I'm better than everyone and I know it," attitude that bugged the hell out of me when we were younger, which I hadn't really missed. I have no idea why it went away, but it did, and both Roxas and I were glad beyond belief. We both hated him when he was like that.

Yet, apparently it came back. At the most random of times. Maybe this was him relaxing a little, which I also hadn't seen in a long time, or maybe he just wanted to put on a show to get back at me still.

"I don't think anyone can fall in love with a psychopath like you," I countered.

"I'm hardly a psychopath," Cloud said, shaking his head. "Do you even know what they are? Not to mention that I already do have someone who loves me, and you know that as well as I do. Maybe even better, seeing as Tifa likes to talk to you about her life for some reason." He sounded resentful. Annoyed.

"Maybe that's because I actually listen?" I didn't know what I was saying. I hated listening to people complain about their lives. I got enough of it from Kairi and Tifa. Granted, I usually happened to be drunk when Tifa talked to me, so I didn't actually pay much attention to what she said, but maybe that's why she liked to talk to me.

When the bar would close for the night, she and I would just hang out and drink, despite her being underage, and she would talk about random things. Maybe I would give her advice, but I was usually too plastered to remember.

I couldn't wait to do that again. But of course, I had to wait for another week at least. Until the hole in my chest started to close up finally. If I drank before then, Vexen would have my head on a brass platter and serve it to his messed up assistant, Marluxia.

"Whatever." We stopped in front of the room Ellie was staying in, and I took a deep breath.

_Why does this bug me so much? It shouldn't. Cloud can do whatever the hell he wants with this chick. She can die for all I care. Get pissed at him. It won't be my fault if Cloud has anything to do with her before hand. The boss knows how he can be with people. _

"You sure about this?" I asked. "You'll probably meet her soon anyway. Last time I saw her she was still covered in blood. I don't think that's changed."

"Riku, I was just making fun of you back there because of the way you treated me. You know that. But you're actually acting like you're her lover or something. Why? I thought you hated her. I would hate her if I were you. She's the reason all of this is happening. If it weren't for her, the police would have absolutely nothing, you wouldn't have a bullet hole in your chest, and you also wouldn't be in trouble with Father."

I said nothing. If I didn't understand my thought process, there's no way Cloud would be able to.

"Fine. Don't answer me." Cloud reached forward and opened the door. I wanted to stop him, but managed to keep my hand under control. This guy...

The moment the door opened, I saw Ellie looking out the window to the side of the house. She flinched, clearly noticing we were in here, but ignored us indefinitely. Probably thought we were only one person. The first thing I noticed after Ellie was the cleanliness of the room. Sure, there were dried blood spots in certain places, but the bed hadn't been slept in, the food left for her hadn't been touched, and I swore that everything was in the exact same spot as the last time I'd been in there.

Creepy...

"You're Miss Ellie Routh, correct?" Cloud asked. Ellie flinched and she turned around, crossing her arms. The blood splatters on her face had faded slightly, but she still looked ridiculous. It made me feel bad.

"Don't know how you know that, but yeah," she snapped. I had to give this girl credit; she had balls. "And who are you? Another freak of nature Strife?"

"If I am?" Cloud asked, clearly amused. "What would you do if I said I happened to be the bosses son?"

"First of all, I wouldn't believe you. Though, knowing this family it actually wouldn't surprise me that much, and I would just laugh in your face for having that shitty bastard as a father." For the first time since meeting this girl, I literally had nothing to say. Yeah, there were times when I couldn't figure out _what_ to say to her, but this was just a plain old "my mind's blank." Cloud hated it when you talked bad about the boss. As much as he hated the man.

If this girl survived, I would be surprised.

Well, I ended up surprised, because Cloud laughed, shaking his head.

"I can see why Father likes you," he said. "You certainly don't have any fear, do you?"

"Oh, I have fear. Just not for a bunch of idiots like you."

"Idiots? How are we idiots?"

"Cloud, we should just go now," I said calmly. "You've seen her, that's enough."

"Oh stay out of this conversation," Ellie snapped, which surprised both Cloud and me. "If you have something important to say, then say it. Otherwise, get the hell out of here. You shouldn't even be up. Your wound will open. Or do you want to die?" She made eye contact with me, which sent a shiver up my spine. "It's my job to be suicidal here, not yours."

I barely heard her last words. All I could think to do was stare at her.

"You shouldn't try to kill yourself," Cloud said, pushing my odd, rather sexual thoughts aside. I couldn't figure out why I kept feeling this for her. When my mind told me no, my body told me yes. Which isn't a fun argument.

"Never said I would." Ellie flicked the hair back from her face. "When am I going to be dealt with anyway?"

"Riku didn't tell you?" She glanced at me quickly.

"No."

"We're not." I closed my eyes, not wanting to see her reaction. "We're not going to deal with you. Father wants you alive, and he wants you to stay here." Ellie opened her mouth, probably to scream bloody murder, but Cloud held up a hand to silence her. "You've gotten yourself into something dangerous, Miss Routh. You may not want it, and you may not have asked for it, but you're part of our life now. There's nothing you can do to get away from us."

He turned and walked quickly out the door, ignoring me and Ellie. I could only stand there, hoping that Ellie would have something to say. Maybe I could snap at her for being rude again, but when I glanced up at her, that thought vanished.

Her eyes had glassed over, and tears were present in the corners of her eyes. My hand twitched, telling me to go comfort her, but I couldn't. She deserved this.

She...

Without saying anything, I left the room, following after Cloud.


	11. I'm one step closer to the edge

**Hey. I'm back. Again. Just because I can be._  
><em>**

**Thanks to everyone for the reviews :) I really appreciate it! I hope more people will start to review though! Please?  
><strong>

**I hope you enjoy this chapter and I'll post another one soon.  
><strong>

**Please review. I'm not joking.  
><strong>

**~Sunechirei  
><strong>

**_Full Chapter Title: I'm one step closer to the edge, and I'm about to break (One Step Closer, Linkin Park)_**

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><p><strong>Ellie<strong>

I couldn't believe I almost cried in front of Riku. I could feel the tears come up, and I tried to keep them down, but he clearly noticed that they were there because he opened his mouth to say something, but left looking like he didn't know what to do.

You know, I don't even know why I cried. Crying is pathetic. It's not something I should do. Maybe what that guy said really bugged me... the fact that I would never be able to leave this place. I'd become a live captive for the mafia known on the streets for being ruthless and keeping no prisoners. This made no sense.

Across the room was a tray of food that seemed to mock me. It wanted me to eat, as did my mind, but my body could only scream at me to not eat anything without the consequence of puking it up later on. I barely remember a woman coming in to give me the food. They told me I should eat something, and it would be better if I showered, but I refused.

Stubbornness had always been one of my... annoying traits. Even I hated how stubborn I could get when things didn't go my way. This definitely wasn't going my way.

At all. Not one bit. Clearly.

As I thought about all of this, and about the people that I was going to have to deal with, my eyes began to slide closed. I tried to keep them open, not wanting to sleep in this messed up place, but you know exhaustion works. When it comes, it comes on hard and is relentless. Eventually, I allowed myself to fall over on the bed, and I closed my eyes, hoping that maybe my dreams would be better than reality.

* * *

><p><em>"Hey! Ellie! Wait!" I turned around, hoping Ariadne wouldn't ask me questions about stupid things anymore. She had this weird obsession with asking me things that I didn't know. It was like she wanted me to look stupid.<em>

_ "What do you want," I snapped, crossing my arms._

_ "I... I wanted to..." Ariadne flushed, then looked down at her fumbling hands. "I wanted to a-"_

_ "Just go away! I don't want anything to do with you, got it?" She bugged me so much. I didn't have the time, or the energy, or the patience to deal with her. _

_ "I'm sorry Ellie," she said softly. "I didn't mean to say that back there. I didn't want to... I... I can't always..." She bowed her head, tears coming out of her eyes. "I can't always control what I say. I just want to be your friend because I see how lonely you are all the time, but every time I talk to you I get nervous and I say stupid things, and I'm sorry!"_

_ I really wanted to feel bad, but for some reason I didn't. From the moment my "new dad" transferred me to this school, I'd heard so many bad things about Ariadne. Ten years olds loved to gossip about the weirdest things, and the crazy, obsessive, Ariadne Beckett was one of them. _

_ From day one the other students told me to avoid her. Of course, I thought they were nothing more than petty brats who needed to grow up, but I avoided her anyway. My goal was to make my way through school with no friends. They only caused problems, and eventually they became invested in your life._

_ People who got invested in your life ended up hurting you, which is why even before Dad killed himself I avoided people. They bothered me. _

_ "I don't care. Leave me alone."_

_ "Please?" She sounded so pathetic at that moment. I let out a sigh._

_ "What do you want with me?" _

_ "I want you to be your friend..." She looked away._

_ "Why?"_

_ "Because I..." The fact that she didn't want to tell me was annoying. Eventually I just rolled my eyes and continued walking, wanting nothing more to do with her. "Wait! You're always alone, and I thought that maybe you wouldn't be like the other kids and hate me, and I just wanted to be friends with someone..."_

_ "Sorry," I snapped. "I don't have friends." That's when she burst into tears, and I took a hesitant step back. "Um...?"_

_ Ariadne didn't say anything. She just stood there, head bowed and cried, which of course made me feel really awkward. I considered just leaving her there and ignoring her for the rest of elementary school. Maybe then she would get the message that I didn't want to be her friend. Or anyone's friend, but for some reason that didn't sit right with me._

_ It made me think of my mother. _

_ Mom never talked bad about anyone. Even people who were mean to her. She would just smile and be polite. I remember asking her about that one time. It's one of the only conversations I remember having with her. She told me that everyone deserved a chance to be loved. People were only mean because they'd never experienced a kind hand and I should always be nice to the ones who needed me to be._

_ I guessed Ariadne needed me to be nice to her. _

_ "Hey... you can stop crying... I'll be your friend," I muttered, not wanting to do this at all. Yeah, my "dad" would be happy I'd finally made a friend my own age. Maybe he would stop taking me to all those therapy sessions._

_ Ariadne sniffled and looked up at me with wide eyes. _

_ "Really? You will?"_

_ "Yeah. So just stop crying!" I glared at her. Unsurprisingly, she smiled and nodded._

_ "Thank you, Ellie."_

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><p>My eyes slid open, the dream still fresh on my mind. But why that dream? Why the time I'd become friends with Ariadne? Maybe it was because she ended up being my only friend throughout the rest of school. The only person who would care if I died or not.<p>

How sad is it that I only had one person who cared about me in any way shape, or form? Maybe it would be better for me to just accept this new life I've been forced into. At least these people don't seem to hate me too much. Well, other than Riku. And that blond guy from earlier didn't act too friendly. But Kairi was nice.

Well, I think. It could just be an act used to torture me. I wouldn't put it past this stupid family to do that.

With this thought in mind, I sat up and glanced around the room. The clock in the corner read ten o'clock, which meant I'd slept for at least five hours. That's all I could do. The world seemed to move so much slower when you've been kidnapped and have nothing to do. It would probably be better if the people who were torturing me like this were actually interrogating me or something, but apparently they knew my name and everything about me already.

So, interrogations would be absolutely pointless. I knew nothing about anyone or anything. Maybe if I had a job I would know things, but nope. Nothing. Nothing at all. Which, of course, they would know, being the messed up family they were.

Ugh...

Rubbing my head, I tried to think of a way to get out of here. There had to be one. I needed to get back home and make sure Ariadne was okay. Her popularity had risen since we got out of high school, but sometimes I wondered if she could actually survive without asking me questions all the time.

Eventually I gave up searching. A way out... there could be no such thing. People weren't that nice in this family. Of course, this room probably hadn't been made to hold captives, like me, but who knew? This is the mafia I'm talking about.

The only way out would have to be that one thing I never thought I would do; suicide. It would give me control of the last moments of my life, if nothing else. I could leave this place, and even though Ariadne would miss me, it's not like I would be able to see her again. Why should I give this freakish family control over when and how I die? It shouldn't be up to them. If anyone has the right to decide when I die, it's me.

Not the idiots who didn't seem to want me to die anymore.

Feeling as though things were finally set, I scrambled off the bed and looked around. Though lavish, there really wasn't much in the room. A few bookshelves, a couch, the bed, and of course the closet and bathroom, but really that was it. Nothing interesting, and really nothing that I could use to help kill myself.

Which was my goal.

Or, nothing I could use to help kill myself quickly. A last resort would be hanging, which I'm told by "experts" isn't fun and very painful. I really hated pain. Anyone who did like it had something messed up going on in their mind. Clearly.

Unfortunately, I couldn't think of any other way to do it. I walked over to the window and unwrapped the rope from the curtains. The thick fabric fell down, covering half the wide window, blocking out a lot of the light from the moon. The room had been dark before, but now it was almost impossible to see. Sighing, I walked over to the table by the bed and turned on the lamp, hoping that no one in the house would notice the light until after I was dead.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, I began to tie a noose, my hands trembling viciously. I could barely get the rope to behave between my fingers. The thought of dying... before it hadn't been bad. But maybe that's because of the adrenaline. I had no choice back then. Now I had a choice, and I was choosing death. Not life.

This was me running away from something. I hated running away from things. I did it all the time when I was older, and I vowed to stop it when I became an adult. Well, five years later and I had plans to run away from life again. Instead of dealing with it.

But what could I do to deal with it? They were going to kill me anyway. It's not like I had anything to live for other than Ariadne. Someone I'd never be able to see again.

So of course it didn't matter.

Still, my entire body struggled with the idea. I'm pretty sure I wanted to cry, as the tightness in my throat and the burning in my face were quite clear indicators of that, but I wouldn't let myself. Nothing good came out of crying, after all. My hands shook, and my legs didn't want to work correctly when I went to stand again. As I walked to the other side of the room, where I could hang the noose, I had trouble keeping my body straight.

Though my mind wanted this to happen, meaning I wanted it to happen, my body didn't want it at all. It tried to stop me, but guess which is stronger? Will power, obviously. I made it so I had to tie the noose onto the fan that hung in the middle of the room. Made it so I grabbed the chair at the desk and stood on it. Made it so I placed the rope around my neck.

Made it so I was about to jump.

But then the door slammed open, and I flinched, glancing over at the doorway. A panting Riku stood there. At first he glanced around the room, looking for me, but then his eyes landed on me, and they widened. I couldn't move. I found myself entranced by the fearful gaze on his face.

Why was he there? Why did he seem so out of breath and worried?

Before I could react, he ran into the room, and grabbed me around the waist, lifting me off the chair, and slipped the rope off my neck at the same time. My body tensed, and I began to struggle, trying to push him off me.

"Let me go!" I screamed, kicking and hitting him as hard as I could. He refused to let me go, instead trying to grab my flailing hands, probably to calm me down. My struggles only became more frantic, and I continued to scream at him.

"You guys won't kill me, so let me do it myself! I want to die! You don't care, so just let me do it!" I tried to control my voice, but it didn't work. It kept cracking. It was strained, and horribly vicious. "Put me down and just let me do what I want!"

He didn't say anything. He just carried me over to the bed, and it was then I noticed how strained his muscles were. I couldn't be that heavy, especially not for someone like Riku, and yet he seemed to have trouble carrying me. The first thing I noticed was the stumbling, then the groan, and finally, the warm liquid soaking into my shirt.

Immediately my eyes snapped open and I stopped fighting him. During the heat of the moment, I'd completely forgotten Riku had been shot only two days ago. Apparently the pain had become too much for him, and he set me on the ground, stumbling away, his hand on his side. I could see the blood spilling between his fingers, which caused my stomach to turn, and I took a step away from him.

_Oh shit. Shit! What do I do? I can't just let him die here._

He leaned against the bed, and I ran as quickly as I could to the bathroom, throwing the door open. My eyes scanned the almost pure white room until I spotted a towel hanging on the wall. I grabbed it, then dashed back into the room. Riku still sat on the bed, eyes clenched shut in pain, which sent a pang of guilt through me.

No one else needed to get hurt because of me. I'm the only one who should feel pain because I was so desperate to die.

The moment I got over to Riku, I moved his hand away and pressed the fancy towel against the wound, trying to hold back the bile in my throat. He didn't fight me at all, instead he just sat there, bloody hand over mine, panting. I felt heat rise to my face against at the feel of his hand against mine, and I tried to block out all those vicious little thoughts that made no sense in the moment.

"I... I'm so sorry," I muttered, clenching my fist. "I didn't mean... are... are you okay?" I glanced up at him, only to see anger in his expression. I flinched, and tried to pull away, but his grip tightened on my hand.

"Are you fucking stupid?" he yelled. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"I-I-I..." I stuttered. I glanced away from him, and he stood up, pulling me with him. He never let go of my hand, but he pulled it away from his chest. I looked at the wound, only to see it still bleeding.

It was then that Kairi came into the room. I barely remember what she said. I couldn't seem to tear my eyes away from Riku's, but finally Kairi came over and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Riku, come on. I've called an ambulance. You have to come or you're going to die," she said, pulling him away from me. Riku finally let go of my hand and allowed Kairi to help him out of the room. I tried to follow, determined to make sure he was okay, but the moment I got to the door, he stopped moving and glared at me.

I stopped in my tracks, just outside the doorway. Riku's hand came out and shoved me back into the room before I could say anything, and he snapped at me to say there.

"Don't you ever try something like that again," he growled in a hoarse voice. The paleness of his face startled me.

"Wait! I want to-" The door slammed in my face before I could finish my sentence. Sliding to my knees, I glanced down at my bloody hands. The blood from before had almost completely vanished, and now there was fresh, red, liquid shining on my hands. All from Riku. All because of me.

* * *

><p>For the next few days I didn't talk. Not even to myself. Not to anyone who came into the room I stayed in. I barely slept, I tried not to eat. I could feel myself getting weaker, though the thought of dying stayed clear of my mind this time.<p>

Eventually I would have to do something to keep myself alive. I just didn't have the will to move. The blond man from before came in. Cloud. He said that his name was Cloud, the boss' son. He tried to get me to move from my corner near the door, but I refused. One time he came with a young woman. A teenager, I think. She tried to talk to me, but her red eyes reminded me of blood. I remember her saying something, then backing away. Cloud wrapped his arm around her shoulder and led her out. I figured that they were dating or something.

Time came and went with me barely noticing. The only signal I had that the next day had arrived was the red-haired man from the van, Pyro, would come in once a day and make sure I was still alive. He didn't talk to me. I liked that. He just made sure I was still breathing, then left.

Three times he came and left. Three days passed before Kairi finally showed up in my room.

"Well, Cloud certainly wasn't lying when he said you refused to move. Have you been there for the entire time?" Kairi asked me after closing the door. I didn't even show her that I'd heard. A sigh came from her direction, and she continued talking. "Look, I get that you're depressed. This situation isn't really something anyone would be happy about, but not talking isn't really good for you."

"Neither is being friendly with murderers," I snapped, not sure where my voice had come from. That sentence just kinda came out on its own.

"I'm not a murderer," Kairi said. "I've never hurt anyone."

"You're related to Riku. Riku's a murderer. You're one by association."

"Well, that's not a very nice thing to say to me."

I just rolled my eyes and went back into my silence. Kairi didn't seem to like how quiet I'd become, because she walked over to me, grabbed my arm, and yanked me up. I was so surprised by the force that I didn't fight it, and for the first time in three days I stood up.

It felt weird.

"Ellie, I know that you hate us, but you're going to be a part of this life now. It sucks. Trust me when I say I know how much it sucks. None of us can escape this anymore than you can. You're just going to have to make the best of it. Alright?"

"Don't tell me what to think," I growled. "What do you know? This has been your life forever. You know nothing about a normal life, so you can't miss one."

Kairi opened her mouth to respond, then shut it again, looking away.

"What? Nothing to say to that? How predictable. You act like you know, but you really can never understand what it's like to be forced into a world of hate, and murder when all you've ever wanted is the opposite. How can you know?"

"You shouldn't assume things."

"I'm not assuming."

"Yes you are!" Kairi glared at me. "You assume that I've been in this world for my whole life, but I haven't! Before my mom died, I had nothing to do with the family. They wouldn't let me anywhere near them, but when my mom died, my dad brought me here. I've only been a part of this world since I was fourteen. It's been four years. That's it!" She let go of my hands.

We stared at each other for a moment, me not really believing that she was only eighteen. She didn't act like an eighteen-year-old did. Then again, she'd been in this world for a long time.

"So you're not a huge part of this family?"

"No."

"Then you don't know why your uncle won't just let me die?"

Kairi shook her head. "I'm sorry... I wish I knew. It would be better for you to know than for you to just wait here. I know that, but Onkel... well, he's interesting. He doesn't like people to know what's going on in his head. The only person who could ever do that was Riku's mom, but she... well, she's not around anymore, so no one knows."

This family was more complicated than I thought.

An awkward silence fell among us as Kairi's words sunk in. She really didn't seem to be bad, though she did help kill that man. She said she'd never hurt anyone, but knowing mens' sexual drive, Riku had probably used her as bait to attract him. That, of course, made her an accomplice, and just as bad as Riku. Only, she didn't seem to have any ill will toward me. Maybe she did and I just didn't know about it.

Finally, I closed my eyes, leaned my head against the wall, and asked the one question I'd wanted to know since things had gone down three days ago.

"How's... how's R-Riku? Is he okay?"

Kairi shot me a confused glance. No doubt she hadn't been expecting me to ask her a question like that.

"He's in the hospital still. Our family doctor is taking care of him. They won't let him leave for a few more days. Why do you care?"

I took a deep breath, wondering if I should tell Kairi my real feelings or not. I'd learned from school, and from all the therapy I'd been put through as a kid, that it's better to talk about your issues, rather than keeping them in, but this wasn't something I could just talk about. My own messed up mind didn't make sense to me at some points.

I shouldn't be feeling this way about Riku. Even if he was good looking, and the way he stared at me made it seem like he wanted me. I could see the lust in his eyes so easily. I wondered if he knew about it. But it shouldn't make me feel the same way...

"I feel guilty for his injury," I finally said. "It's my fault his wound opened again, and I'm pretty sure he got shot because he was angry that I'd seen him kill that guy in the alley. He was probably irrational and did something stupid." I shouldn't be saying this to her. "I hate it... I don't like it when people get hurt because of me. If they want to get hurt, then they should do it because they're stupid, or because of someone else. But when it's my fault I feel like I have a responsibility to help them."

I closed my eyes just as Kairi giggled.

"You're a weird girl, Ellie. I can see why Onkel thinks you're interesting." I opened my eyes and glanced at Kairi. She wasn't look at me. "You shouldn't think about what happened with Riku like that. He did something stupid because he was drunk. And trust me, he would have gone out drinking even if you hadn't appeared." She walked over to the door, then pointed at the food across the room.

"I suggest you eat," she continued to say. "It's not healthy to starve yourself."

She left the room, and I glanced at the food. When she said I shouldn't worry about it, I felt like something had been lifted off my shoulders. It wasn't my fault he'd been shot. It would have happened anyway...

For some reason, that gave me the will to move again.


	12. A little less thinkin'

**So, here's chapter 12. I probably won't be posting chapter 13 for a while because I lost some of my motivation for this and I can't seem to find it. When I do, though, I'll probably write a lot of chapters and slowly post them on here. Mostly to annoy my friend who reads this and I keep teasing her about it.  
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**Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed, and I think I got to messaging everyone... who knows. I'm on pain medicine right now so I'm not thinking straight.  
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**Please review. In fact, I think I'm going to pull the if I don't get a certain amount of reviews, I won't post the next chapter at all. Maybe. I haven't decided. Maybe for the next chapter. But come on people!  
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**Review.  
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**~Sunechirei_  
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_**Full Chapter Title: A little less thinkin' and a lot more drinkin; that'll work for me tonight (You look better when I'm drunk, The White Tie Affair)**  
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><p><strong>Ven<em><br>_**

Normally I was against alcohol. I didn't like to drink it because it impaired me so much, but I gave my normal ban an exception this one time. Who wouldn't want to drink until the sun came up when they were put on a case that went nowhere, and the one killed happened to be your best friend? I know I would.

The only thing I knew about bars was this: the more crowded they were, the easier it was to get lost and not be noticed in them. Terra had practically drilled this into my head on my twenty-first birthday, which Aqua scolded him for. He told me what drinks were good and which ones would probably send me, the small guy, into a drunken stupor and give me a nasty hangover the next day.

Granted, he forgot to mention that drinking enough of _anything_ would give you a hangover, but I learned that one quickly.

You know, for a guy who was so determined to put strict laws on bars, Terra certainly visited them a lot. Aqua would complain about it sometimes. She wanted me to tell him to stop doing it, especially during the months where she was pregnant with Vanitas. According to Terra, she'd been a slight nightmare and he went out drinking a lot so he wouldn't have to deal with her.

I thought poorly of him because of that, especially when I visited Aqua and she burst into tears when I told her I didn't know where Terra had gone. She only ever cried over Terra. Maybe that's why he wanted the laws to be like that. To help him not be such an ass to his poor wife. Sure, he would probably still cheat on her, but only one wrong is better than two things wrong.

Not that there were only two things wrong with that relationship.

Anyway, the only bar I really knew about was called Seventh Heaven. Kinda a weird name for a bar, and I know the guy who started it had close relations to the mafia when he was alive, but it was the only place I could think to go. Terra told me that people loved it there, mainly because of an extremely good looking bar maid, Tifa Lockhart. I'd never seen her, but from the way Terra talked about her, I figured she really was a beauty.

Plus, she was also the daughter of the original bar owner, so she had connections to the Strife family as well. This meant I could get info out of her. Maybe. Even though I'd seen Riku injured, it didn't mean he was the only one who could have killed Terra, and there had to be more than one person involved, especially since they kidnapped Ms. Routh.

I didn't quite trust Cloud. Especially not after what happened when I was eighteen. I tried to, and I knew that sometimes he gave me good information, but then there were times, like now, where I couldn't be sure.

So I figured I would talk to someone who probably dealt with all the Strife members.

Getting out of my car, I took a deep breath, wondering if anyone in the bar would recognize me. It'd kinda be awkward if I ran into one of the drunks I normally questioned about crimes in the city. Who knows what they would do to me, especially since I was on their territory now.

The only people I saw, however, were drunken idiots stumbling through the darkness with beers in their hands and no keys. Some of them seemed pissed about it, but others were those happy drunks who never got mad about anything.

Apparently that's what I'm like when I'm drunk.

When I entered the bar, the first thing I noticed was Cloud. Of course. Even in a huge crowd he was impossible to miss with that messed up aura of his. I swear that a foot barrier was up around him at all times. No one ever crossed it, and no one tried to take it down. Anyone who did would probably be killed.

The second thing I noticed was a young woman with black hair walking over to him. From what Terra described to me, I guessed this was Tifa. At first I thought this would be a good thing. If Tifa knew Cloud, then she had access to everything he knew, and of course, him being the stuck up bastard he is, he would push her away. She would be glad to tell me everything.

Only, when I started to walk over to them, I saw Tifa lean up and kiss him, and I knew I was screwed. He didn't push her away, which meant he actually liked her, and this meant she wouldn't tell me anything. Still, when she grabbed his hand and pulled him to the back of the bar, I figured they were going to go talk. Or do something disturbing. But if they did talk and I missed it, I would hate myself forever.

I followed them back there, trying not to lose sight of them in case they went to a place I wouldn't be able to find on my own.

Eventually, we got to a quiet enough place, and the two of them stopped. I copied them, hoping I was quiet enough to get away with this.

"What do you mean Riku's in the hospital? I thought he was fine."

"He was. Then she did something stupid and he stopped her. His wound opened. Kairi flipped and called the ambulance, which is good because Riku would have died otherwise."

"How is she doing?"

Cloud let out a sigh. "She won't talk to anyone. When I went to see her earlier today, she sat in the corner and didn't move. I think she's traumatized by what she saw. Do you think you could come over tomorrow and help me talk to her?"

Two questions came into my mind from this conversation. Who was _she_? And what stupid thing did she do? If Riku had to stop whoever they were talking about from doing something stupid, this meant he cared about her.

The idea of Riku caring about someone blew my mind away. Even when we were kids he didn't like to have contact with anyone. Not even Cloud. It's one of the reasons he didn't get along with Terra at all.

"Yeah. I can come over. Do you think she'll talk to me? She might be scared of someone she's never met before."

"Most of the people coming to talk to her she hasn't met. Pyro's the only one she really does. I'm sure Blondie would go too would Father permit it." I chanced a glance around the corner to see what was going on exactly. Tifa sat on on a box of wine bottles, and Cloud stood in front of her, holding her hand.

The blissful look on his face scared me a little. I'd never seen Cloud look like that before. For anything or anyone.

Creepy...

"Yeah but," Tifa muttered, playing with Cloud's fingers, "but if she sees me, she might do something rash again. Kairi said that she freaked out the first time the two of them talked."

"Kairi also tends to over exaggerate."

"That's true..."

That's when Cloud leaned down and kissed her, grabbing the back of her neck to make it easier for him. I pulled away, not really wanting to watch my old friend make out with a girl I'd never even met before but that Terra said could be very sexual when she wanted something.

Weird girl.

I still wanted to know who they were talking about. Maybe I should go back to Riku's house and ask to see this "she" they were talking about. Part of me thought it could be Ms. Routh, though another part of me said it had to be impossible. From what I'd heard about Ms. Routh from Ariadne, she seemed to be the type to easily get on Riku's nerves. He would never care about her.

Despite this new knowledge, I decided I still wanted something to drink, so I headed over to the actual bar, trying to control the confusion going on inside my head. Stupid Cloud...

What I saw at the bar, though, really surprised the hell out of me.

I saw Ariadne Beckett sitting alone, fumbling with a drink. You'd think that a twenty-two year old wouldn't come to a place like this, especially not someone like Ariadne who held a good job at a hospital – well, an internship – and a little bit of family money too. She could easily go wherever she wanted.

She seemed to be paying a little too much attention to her drink though, which worried me, so I walked over and sat at the bar next to her.

"Hey," I said, catching her attention. She jumped and turned to me, probably thinking I was some kind of freak. When she saw who I was, though, she relaxed and moved back into the position she was in before.

"Oh, Detective. Hi," she muttered. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same question."

I could tell that she was already pretty intoxicated. She'd probably been here for a little while.

"I'm depressed. I didn't know what else to do."

"So you come out to drink a depressant? That's not a very bright thing to do."

"Oh shut up. You sound like Ellie." The moment Ariadne said her best friend's name, tears sprung to her eyes, and she bowed her head, hiding her face behind her hair. I felt a little guilty about sounding like Ms. Routh, only I couldn't know what she talked like so...

"Ellie always told me that alcohol was evil. She never drank it. She didn't see the point. When we were fifteen I broke into my parents liquor cabinet and drank something. When I offered some to her she yelled at me, saying that drinking wasn't the way to deal with my depression." She sighed. I had no idea why she was telling me this. Maybe she just needed someone to talk to. "Even back then I was depressed all the time. My parents tried to medicate me, but it just made everything worse. Ellie got into psychology to help me through things."

"So, you guys have always been really close?" I felt a pang of guilt that the police force wasn't trying as hard as they could to find this woman.

"Since we were ten, yeah. Ellie didn't want to be friends with me at first, but I guess she felt bad for me," Ariadne continued, laughing. "I was a loner, and so was she. We kinda bonded over our annoyance with the other people in the human race. At the beginning she really didn't try to associate with me, but after a while she gave up trying not to be my friend. She became my only friend. My best friend. She always felt that living with me was a burden, but I didn't care. The fact that she's gone right now is more of a burden that that ever was."

She glanced up at me.

"Have you guys found anything?" I honestly didn't know what to say. This person kinda scared me a little. The obsessive, slightly possessive tone that she carried surprised me into wondering what kind of person the shy Ariadne actually was.

She repeated her question when I said nothing, and I shook my head.

"I'm not really allowed to talk about the case, so..."

"Is the forty-eight hour rule really true? Does the trail go practically cold after that time?" Ariadne's eyes went wide when I didn't say anything. Four days. It'd been four days since Terra's murder. I didn't know what I could say to lie about that. We pretty much had nothing, and our window of opportunity closed before we really had the chance to do much.

Slowly, I nodded, and this pushed her over the edge. She burst into tears, grabbing my arm and pressing her face into it. Needless to say, I felt awkward. A witness wanted comfort from me. You could say that's the only thing I failed at doing. Aqua was so much better at it.

"H-Hey...," I said, pushing her away. "Don't cry. Okay? Here, I'll take you home. Did you drive here?" She nodded. "Alright, well you can come get your car tomorrow. For now I think you should just go home and get some sleep. Things will seem better in the morning, when you're not intoxicated on alcohol." I stood up and pulled her off the bench, leading her away from the bar.

I glanced back at it right as Tifa emerged from the back of the building with slightly ruffled clothes. She saw me pulling Ariadne away, and our eyes locked for a minute. My reaction was to narrow my eyes. Her's was to back away from the counter, seeming to be fearful.

I left it at that.

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><p>It took me a little while to find Ariadne's apartment because it was so out of the way. Of course, the drunk woman in the seat next to me was no help. She kept muttering about Ellie's running route, or her walking path. Nothing useful except for how to get back to her house. Which annoyed me a little.<p>

Still, I had to keep my patience. It would be easy, especially since I'd yet to have my drink. I'd left with Ariadne before I could order anything, and even then I probably wouldn't have had it because I needed to get her home.

Damn.

The moment I did find the house, though, I nearly cheered, and I managed to get Ariadne out of the car and to her apartment. She stumbled the whole way, still muttering to herself about random things I couldn't make out, so I didn't try to talk to her. I just helped her into the house, and then into the kitchen, where I planned to leave her.

"Can you handle things on your own now?" I asked, stepping away from her. She hadn't wanted me to let go.

"Detective, why did you go to the bar?" The question wasn't something I'd been expecting, and I answered it without thinking.

"I was stressed and wanted a drink." I regretted saying that the moment it came out. Ariadne didn't need to know anything about me. What made it worse is that she stood up and headed over to her fridge, yanked the door open, and pulled out a bottle of beer.

You know, if you have beer at home, why bother going out to get some? That doesn't make any sense.

"If you're stressed, you should have this," she slurred, shoving it out in front of me. I took it only to get it out of my face, and tried to decline, but she placed a finger over my mouth. "Sh! Don't talk. Just drink!" She grabbed her own bottle and opened it, laughing a little.

"I appreciate your concern," I said slowly, trying to figure out the right thing to say, "but I really shouldn't be drinking this. I have to go home soon and I don't want to be impaired at all, so thanks, but no thanks." I placed the bottle on the table, which caused Ariadne to let out a sob. Yeah, that confused me. She started crying again because I didn't want to drink here.

Alright. She's weird.

"I'm so useless! I can't do anything right," she stammered between sobs. "I can't help my best friend, I can't make more than one or two friends, I can't even help someone like you, who does all this awesome work for the city. I should be able to help you, but I can't because I'm so pathetic! I'm pathetic enough that you don't even want to drink something I gave you, or stay with me for a little while longer..." She curled into a ball on the floor, shaking back and forth.

I had no idea what to do.

So, I did the only thing I thought would work. I picked up the bottle, opened it, and took a sip.

"Look," I said. "I'm going to drink it, alright? No need to feel sorry for yourself. You're a great person, I'm sure. Alright?" Her eyes stared at me calmly, no tears present. I felt kinda played. But I took another sip anyway, not caring that the drink seemed to be stronger than most of what I was used to, and I already felt a little affected.

A smile spread over Ariadne's face.

"You're a nice person, Ven."

It took me a while to realize she'd said my name, and not detective. I felt like I should have left right then, because what happened after is something I'm definitely ashamed of.

Ariadne stood up and moved closer to me, which didn't seem to concern me at all. Even when she slipped her arms around my neck I didn't do anything to stop her, and when she placed her lips on mine, I just kinda let her do it. I wasn't that drunk. I could have stopped her if I wanted, but I didn't want to.

She was pretty, vulnerable, and I definitely needed to get laid. So I just let it happen.


	13. Maybe Someday You'll Get It

**Oh hey there. I'm alive. Kinda. Sorta. I just got inspiration for this story again so I'm going to start posting again. But I doubt I'll ever want to edit the chapters because they're so old and I'd have to rewrite them completely just to be happy and I just kinda want to get this story done so I can rewrite it as an original. Yup. Just like I'm doing with Elephant. Hooray...**

**Sorry it's been so long. I'll try and get better at updating this story again because I do love the story and I know a lot of other people do. Anyway, read, review, enjoy! Not necessarily in that order ;)**

**~Sune**

**_Full Chapter Title: Maybe someday you'll get it, perhaps you'll regret it, or maybe you'll find someone else who accepts it._ (Typical, Tickle Me Pink)**

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><p><strong>Riku<strong>

_"Riku. Come here, I have something I want to show you."_

_ "What?"_

_ "Do you see those flowers?"_

_ "Yeah. What about em?"_

_ "Do you think they're pretty?"_

_ "I guess."_

_ "Would you ever hurt them?"_

_ "What are you talking about?"_

_ "One day, Riku, you might find someone precious to you. A flower in your life. Promise me that when you find her, never hurt her, and never let her get hurt."_

_ "A flower? Really? What are you talking about?"_

_ "You won't understand until you're older, dearest Riku. Until then, be sure to watch out for the one you love more than anything else in this world."_

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><p>When I woke up, the hospital was dark. You know, those normal dark moments where no sound is present, people are gone, and it's just so peaceful that it almost feels uncomfortable. The curtains on the window were drawn, blocking out the moonlight, so the only light came from the nasty digital clock on the other side of the hospital room.<p>

That evil thing that reminded me of how slowly time passes when the only thing you're allowed to do every day is sit in a bed and wait for people to come in and tell you how injured you are. Which, of course, you already know seeing as it's _your body_.

"Mr. Strife?" A young nurse slid open my door as she asked this, glancing in hesitantly. Most of the nurses didn't like me very much, seeing who my family was, but this nurse had some weird case where she didn't hate me. She just didn't like to talk to me. I guess this could be a part of her shyness.

"What do you want?" I asked. I never caught her last name, but her first name, Naminé, kept coming to my mind as a name I should know. Maybe I could ask her what her last name was. It could spark a remembrance of where I should know her from.

"Dr. Vexen has given me orders to fill out your release form. You just need to sign them now." She held out her hand, a clipboard and a pen. Of course, this made me want to strangle her because I hated signing things. It left a paper trail which people could follow and get information about me from.

I took the board anyway, hoping that this wouldn't give people information they didn't need, and signed the paper, thinking about how weird it was that they were discharging me. Vexen wasn't exactly known for being fast with what he did. In fact, he was a little slow most of the time because he liked to experiment on his patients.

But maybe this had to do with Ellie. Every time Cloud visited me he would give me an update on her. At first she wouldn't even move, then she talked to Kairi a little bit, then she started eating, and now she'd gone back into her shell, wouldn't talk to anyone, and slept most of the time people came to visit.

Axel had been given orders to make sure she stayed alive. He hated this more than any job he'd been given before. A few days ago, he'd visited and told me that she was the most annoying non-talkative person he'd ever met.

I didn't have any room for sympathy.

"So, I can go now?" I asked, handing the board back to Naminé . She nodded and bowed her head a little, probably being stupidly shy.

"Yes. Your clothes are in the dresser over there. Your friend... um... Ms. Lockhart, brought them for you a few days back when you were sleeping. I don't know if she told you that or not."

Tifa had come to visit me? Well that's a first. She normally avoided contact with me unless we were in the bar, or she had permission from Cloud. No doubt he hadn't wanted her to come, yet for some reason she did anyway. Or maybe Naminé had gotten her name wrong. Yeah, that seemed more likely.

"Thanks." That's all I said before pushing off my covers. I didn't pay attention to the nurse at all while she backed out of the room, closing the door behind her. Instead my thoughts turned back to Ellie. The look in her eye when I entered her room, feeling as though something were wrong. She'd hated me more than before at that moment. When I'd pulled her down from killing herself.

How could anyone do that? Sure, I wasn't at all against killing _other_ people, but they had no choice. Suicide was a choice, and not a good one. People who choose that route were stupid and probably deserved to die.

Even with this mindset, though, I'd saved her. I wanted her to be alive, and I made sure that she stayed that way. It'd almost killed me, but I still saved her from dying. The woman in my dream... that's who Ellie reminded me of. Not because of the attitude – no way in hell was Ellie's attitude like hers – but because of the way they looked. The same brown hair, same pale complexion, same face shape, same eye shape... the eyes were different colors, but they still looked exactly the same.

I'd been having dreams of that woman since I came to the hospital. Probably because that woman had been there all those years ago when I had to go to the hospital for falling off the roof of Terra's house. Well, _falling._ He actually pushed me, but no one believed it.

I always dreamed of her when I stayed in hospitals. Always.

Once I finished getting dressed, I made my way out of the hospital, glad to be leaving. They freaked me out just a little. They reminded me of death; of my job.

Again I thought of Ellie. Her expression when she pressed that towel to my stomach. The way her hand felt when it touched mine... I couldn't let that go. I even grabbed her hand. Granted, part of it was make sure enough pressure was on the wound, but when I pulled her hand away, I just wanted to touch it. Hold it.

Just the thought made me feel sick.

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><p>I finally made it home around midnight. Even though I'm pretty sure Roxas had been there to pick me up, I decided to walk. Avoid people who I didn't want to talk to. Walking home from the hospital hadn't been fun. Even though the wound had healed enough that I didn't really need to worry about it opening again, it still hurt a little bit.<p>

Okay, a lot, but I managed to ignore most of it.

Let's just say it was a huge relief when I finally entered my house. All of my plans went to going straight to bed and sleeping for the next twenty-four hours, but the moment I passed by Ellie's door, I stopped and stared at it. I could tear my eyes away.

A part of me wanted to go in and talk to her again. Tell her that she's an idiot who needs to stop feeling sorry for herself. Tell her that suicide isn't the answer to anything.

Granted, only one part of me wanted to talk. Another part of me wanted to do much different things.

It didn't make any sense. How could I be so attracted to someone I hated so much?

And that's when my phone rang.

"Hello?" I answered, not bothering to look at the caller ID.

"Ignoring me and walking home wasn't the brightest idea, Snipe. What if someone had hurt you again. You of all people should know what goes on in the back streets at this time of night," Roxas' annoyed voice said. I rolled my eyes.

"Getting the car with you might mean rape. I think that's worse than anything else out there at the moment." I just had to say it. Piss him off a little bit. Remind him that we all thought it was hilarious he had a relationship with Axel. Maybe he would learn to shut up about it one of these days. We didn't care it happened; we just hated hearing about it.

But nope. Roxas didn't get pissed, and he didn't shut up about his relationship.

"Sorry. Don't think Axel would appreciate it. But if you really want it that much, maybe we can make a deal or something."

Yeah. He annoyed the hell out of me. His cocky little tone and inability to understand the concept of _shutting the fuck up _were so frustrating.

"You only wish I wanted it," I snapped. "But whatever. What do you want?" I still wanted to go in and "talk" to Ellie. Who knows if we'd actually talk or not. Depends on how well I could control the other half of my brain.

"I have orders for you, from the boss."

"And those orders are...?"

"Tomorrow your little hostage needs to be clean, dressed, and at the boss' house so she can have dinner with him." To be perfectly honest, I felt a little sorry for her. Having dinner with the boss could be compared to eating live rats in a sewer.

"Alright. So what? Just get her clean and put her in some of Kairi's clothes. That's not that big of a deal," I said, tearing my eyes away from her door. "Why do you sound like it's a death sentence?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end, before Roxas sighed. "Because there's more to it. The boss wants you to make sure it happens. Which means you have to be in the room when she showers and changes. Basically you have to emotionally torture her a little bit before she goes there. Maybe the boss'll do something nice to her when she gets there. Show her that you're the bad guy and he's not."

I didn't move. Or speak. I could barely think straight. For one thing, I was tired. For another, my uncle decided I needed to be a pervert toward a girl I barely knew. Who I had unnatural attractions to.

"The boss is a perv. Messed up too. There's no way in hell I'm doing that." Before Roxas could argue with me, I snapped my phone shut and glared at the door. Ellie Routh would be the death of me, whether she knew it or not. The Boss would make sure of that, and I wouldn't be able to stop it at all.

But why was he doing this? What about her did he find interesting?

When my phone rang again, I threw it against the floor and headed upstairs, not wanting to be bothered at all for the rest of the night.

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><p>Unfortunately I woke to Axel sitting on the bed next to me. Naturally, my first reaction was to grab something on the bedside stand and throw it at him. I didn't bother paying attention to his reaction to being attacked. Instead I grabbed the blankets and pull them over my head, hoping that the sunlight would vanish. One thing I missed about the hospital was the lack of people bothering me when I wanted to sleep.<p>

I got a lot of sleep while I was there.

"Dude, Snipe, get your ass out of bed. You have a job to do. Didn't you get it memorized?" He snickered at my grunt. "Come on. It's not going to be easy to get the little girl down there to comply, so get up and get down there. Otherwise the boss'll think you're incompetent and get rid of ya."

This got me to sit up rubbing my eyes. Oh how I hated Axel. More than anyone else. He just got on my nerves no matter what he did.

"Shut up, Pyro. I don't need you to lecture me. Besides, it won't take that long to deal with that little girl. She's probably too depressed to argue."

"I dunno, she has a lot of spunk. When she doesn't want to do anything, she'll do everything in her power to fight against you. She tried to do that yesterday," Axel said, shaking his head. I glanced over at him, completely confused.

"What did she do?"

"I tried to bring her out of the room to get her to talk to Tifa again. Cloud wouldn't let Tifa go into the room, saying something about too much blood being in there. When I tried to pull her out she bit me, scratched at my face, and kicked me a few too many times." My vision cleared a little while he said this, and I noticed the scratch marks on his face. I flinched a little at the sight. If someone could do that to Axel, then she had guts.

Which, of course, I already knew about Ellie, but still. Cloud had been wrong about her when he told me what she was doing.

"Whatever. I'll be fine dealing with her. It's just getting her showered and dressed. It won't be that difficult to accomplish. Just because you got injured doesn't mean I will," I snapped, hoping that he would leave me alone after this. He'd woken me up already. I wouldn't be going back to sleep and he knew that.

"Whatever you say. I think you're stupid, to be honest," Axel said, laughing. "Anyway, here's the dress she has to wear. The boss was insistent she wear it, though I'm not sure why. I'm beginning to think he's something of a pervert."

I cracked up at this. The boss could only be called a pervert. I remembered the times he would come over and try and force himself on my mom. He didn't know I watched, of course, and I don't think Mom every knew either, but it happened. Quite often. I'm sure Dad hated it, but he never did anything that I know of.

"The boss is nothing but a perv," I snapped. "The fact that you're only realizing this now really shows how little you know about this family." At this I climbed out of bed, grabbing the box he had held out to me. "Ask Blondie about it. He should know a few things that you don't."

"Roxas doesn't like me asking about the family," Axel snapped. It surprised me that he used the real name. "Not that I want to ask. Whatever. The car to take the two of you to the main house will be here at five. You obviously won't be driving, so the boss provided a car for you. Be happy." He turned to leave. "Hurry up and get her dressed. You only have two hours to do so."

Then he was gone. I could only sigh.

Curious about the box, I opened it slightly to see what he'd put in. A shimmery, light turquoise dress rested inside, along with a pure white shawl. The dress didn't look new, but at the same time it didn't look used. I wondered why the boss had chosen this dress in particular. What was special about it? It had to be special. The boss wouldn't choose a dress almost the same color as our eyes for no reason.

After closing the lid to the box, I myself got ready, knowing that it would be better to be clean and dressed when dealing with Ellie. She was a psychologist. And a female. Female psychologists usually had more willingness to comply when dealing with guys who don't look and smell like they'd been in a hospital for a week and a half.

When that ended I finally made my way downstairs. News from a maid let me know that Kairi had left earlier that day, and I wasn't to bug her. She'd been going out more and more recently. She'd only come to visit me once in the hospital, even though she's definitely the type to see me every day.

This made me wonder, but not enough for me to stop and call her. I had other things I needed to do.

Like deal with Ellie.

When I entered her room, she was doing exactly as Cloud told me; sleeping on the bed in bloody clothes. You'd think that someone would get sick of sleeping after a while. Then again, her depression probably helped with how she was acting. Or, I guess she was depressed. I don't really understand the way females work at times. Or how hostages work. That's usually Sephiroth's job.

After a moment of just staring at her, I walked over and grabbed her arm, not bothering to be gentle as I yanked her of the bed. She immediately opened her eyes, flailing to keep herself stable. This didn't work for her, however, but I kept her upright, holding her body up and against mine so she didn't collapse on the ground.

The moment she got her footing, she pushed me away, and to my odd delight, her face had turned red.

"Well hello there, Princess," I cooed, wondering how far I could push her. "Weren't expecting to see me, were you?" The look on her face made it clear she hadn't been. No one had told her, obviously, that I would be released from the hospital last night. Of course, they also wouldn't have told her that she had a date with the boss tonight.

Or maybe they had told her and she just refused to think about it.

Carefully, I reached forward and grabbed her wrists, not wanting to push her too far at the moment. Maybe a little, to see if she would attack me, but that's about it. I didn't want her to hurt me, so don't think that. I just wanted to see if Axel had been telling the truth about her. So far, things weren't in his favor.

"Let go of me," Ellie muttered, pulling against my hands. "You shouldn't be here. You should be in the hospital still. I know it takes longer than that for bullet wounds to heal. It'll open again."

"Actually," I replied, leaning down so I could say this in her ear, "I'm a fast healer. Plus, with today's technology it doesn't take nearly as long as it used to." Of course it still hadn't healed completely. Vexen said it wouldn't open anymore as long as I didn't do anything harsh to it, but something like this should be fine.

Ellie's reaction to my sentence was to grin, then stomp on my foot. Let me tell you; getting your foot stomped on by a runner isn't fun. Even a weak one.

I immediately let her go, backing away slightly.

"What the-"

"If your fine now, then I can't feel guilty for hurting you," she snapped. "So I suggest you don't touch me unless you want to end up like that Pryo guy who tried to get me up yesterday." Her eyes were narrowed, and she seemed more calm than anything else. Despite the pressure of me being here, with a deadly look on my face, she managed to stay completely calm.

How the hell...?

"Oh please," I said, trying to control my emotions. I just wanted to smack her. "You couldn't hurt me if you tried." I smirked. "Go ahead and try, Princess. I'll just overpower you. You're small, and weak, and I'm not."

"You're also injured," Ellie said slowly, before grabbing the back of my head. At first I thought she was going to do something weird, and sexual, because her finds tangled in my hair, which felt really good. Then she rammed her knee into my stomach. The pain was worse than I'd felt before, mostly in the part of my chest where the wound used to be. I coughed, then backed away, holding my stomach. This girl... I swore that she would die by my hand one day.

Who cares what the boss thought? She needed to die. And I wanted to kill her. So badly it wasn't even funny.

"You think you're cute?" I snarled, grabbing her collar. Still, she didn't flinch. "Don't try any shit like that again, Princess, or I'm going to have to kill you. I don't care what my boss says. When you piss me off, I will kill you, no matter what you think." After my threat, I shoved her back, which caused her to squeak and fall on the bed.

Before she could speak, I grabbed her shoulder, pushed her down and climbed on top of her. Finally I got a reaction. Watching her eyes widen was probably the best thing I'd seen in a long time. All the blood drained from her face, and even though she tried to control her breathing, I could easily hear her labored breath and escalating heartbeat. Either I made her nervous, or embarrassed.

"But I'm not here to kill you right now," I whispered, "because I have orders to bring you to the main house alive." My hands were wrapped around her wrists, keeping her from hurting me with them. Luckily, she didn't try to knee me again, probably freaked out that I would do something perverse. Which half of my brain was telling me to do.

"Why do you have those orders?" Ellie asked in a whisper. "Why do I have to go to the "main house" with you?"

So she still had the guts to speak, huh? This made me smirk, though I really just wanted to bash her head in at the moment.

"Dunno." I got off her, then stood, towering over her with crossed arms. The only thing she seemed to be able to do is stare up at me with those odd gold eyes of hers. "The boss wants to have dinner with you. So that's what's going to happen."

"If I say I won't go?"

"There are ways to force you to do what I want." My reply clearly didn't please her. But before she could speak, I continued. "Not that it matters. It's easier if you comply and maybe you'll learn why you're not allowed to die yet. So here-" I reached down and grabbed the box off the floor. "-shower and wear this."

I didn't think it would be good to mention at the moment I would be in the room with her while she showered. Might turn her off the idea of cooperating. I know I would be turned off. This entire thing made no sense to me.

Ellie got up off the bed, glaring at the package in my hand, and sighed. "Fine. I'll do what you want. Right now. But this is the only time I'm going to go along with what you say. And only because I'm curious." When she looked up at me, made eye contact, I felt something in my stomach turn. "I just want to know why your boss is keeping me alive. That's it."

She reached forward and grabbed the package, then pushed past me, heading to the bathroom. It took me a minute to react, but finally I did, turning around and grabbing her arm. The glare she shot my way startled me.

"What do you want?" I swear she wanted to scream this at me.

"Nothing," I stated calmly. "Nothing except to follow my orders exactly. And those orders made it clear I have to be with you when you get ready."

Her eyes narrowed. "Stay in here then. That'll be good enough."

"Doubt it." I dragged her through the room, despite her protests, then shoved her into the bathroom. When she turned to yell at me, I myself went into the room and shut the door, then grabbed a towel and threw it at her. Honestly, I hated this bathroom. Mom used to use it all the time when I was younger. She would bring me in here to watch over me, saying that the nannies hired weren't good enough.

It did not bring back good memories.

"What the hell are you doing?" Ellie asked, backing away, the towel in her hands. "Get out of here!"

"Sorry. Wish I could, but I can't. So hurry your ass up."

"W-What? No! I'm not going to change in front of you." Her voice rose in volume and pitch with every word.

"Too bad, Princess."

Ellie threw the box and the dress down on the ground with the towel. "Stop calling me that, and I refuse to do this until you leave."

For some reason this frustrated me beyond all belief. I didn't even realize I'd moved until I had grabbed Ellie's wrists and pulled them over her head. She gasped, and struggled, though based on how easily I've been able to physically manipulate her in the past, I don't quite know why she was stupid enough to fight me.

With ridiculous ease, I grabbed the bottom of her bloody shirt and yanked it up over her head, not at all caring that I happened to be stripping a girl in the middle of a bathroom. The implications of this action hardly even occurred to me.

Ellie, on the other hand, got those implications I'd missed, and she flushed.

"What are you doing?" she asked quietly, still trying to pull away.

"Getting you to behave. What does it look like?" My eyes slowly traveled to her mostly exposed upper body. She didn't have a bad body, I had to admit.

"Stop it! I'll do it myself. Just let me go."

"Nope. It's too late for that. You had your chance, and you blew it." I flipped her around, holding her hands behind her back now, and finished taking of her clothing. I could tell that her face burned, but it didn't matter to me. A sick part of my mind was having fun with this. Who cares if she got a little embarrassed? It's not like this would never happen to her in a different sense.

Then again, if she had to live with us for the rest of her life, it never would.

I tore my eyes away from her the moment I finished getting her clothes off. For some reason the idea of looking at her made me feel slightly sick. I associated that with the fact she reminded me of that woman I used to hang around as a kid.

"Let go of me," Ellie whined, tugging away. I tightened my grip before dragging her across the room, then I opened the shower door, threw her in, and turned on the water, not caring what the temperature happened to be.

She yelped and moved to the back of the shower, then I slammed the door shut and walked over to the other side of the room.

"Hurry up!" I snapped over the sound of the rushing water. No reply came from the other side, but I assumed she heard me.

With a resigned sigh, I slid to the floor, placing my head in my hands. Now that I'd done that stupid thing, I couldn't believe I had. Yeah, she'd been annoying me, and been stubborn, and stubbornness bothered me, but the fact I actually took off all her clothes and shoved her in the shower was... well, stupid.

Especially since the sight of her naked body pleased me in a disturbing way.

I didn't pay attention to how long her little shower took. All I know is the moment the water turned off, I felt my heart jump. Don't know why, but I guessed it was because I wanted to get out of this place before I had to deal with the stubborn bitch anymore.

The door to the shower opened a little, revealing Ellie's bright red face, and she asked, "will you please hand me the towel." At first I considered forcing her to come out here on her own to get it, but decided that would be abnormally cruel. She already had to deal with The Boss tonight. There wasn't a need for me to torture her anymore.

I said nothing while I walked over to the place she'd dropped the box and towel, grabbed the latter, and chucked it at the shower. She flinched when it hit the glass.

"Thank you."

"Whatever."

"Why don't you just leave? It's not like I'm going to tell your uncle you weren't in here with me. If that's what he wants, I'll just lie about it."

I groaned. She wanted to talk about this whole thing. Still.

"Because he has ways of knowing when I'm not doing what he wants," I told her, wondering why I even bothered to mention it. "Besides, if I leave you in here alone, there's no guarantee you'll do what you're supposed to, and that's not allowed."

"I told you I'd do what you wanted."

"I don't believe you."

She opened the door to the shower then, the towel wrapped tightly around her body. Her skin glistened slightly from the moisture while water dripped from her darkened hair. The blood on her face and hands had been washed off, obviously, showing me the young woman I remember seeing in the van. The defiant look on her face hadn't changed at all.

"Will you at least turn away while I change?"

This sentence caused me to laugh for some reason. I mean, really laugh. I don't even know why I found it to be so funny. There was nothing funny about it.

"If you insist, Princess."

"Stop calling me that."

* * *

><p>Neither of us spoke the entire time Ellie dressed. She didn't bother telling me when she was done, instead just pushing past me once she'd finished. I noticed that she'd avoided the white shawl, which of course meant that her shoulders were left completely bare. My first thought when I saw her was: <em>Isn't that a little revealing for dinner with an old guy?<em>

Of course, I remembered that the boss was a pervert, and the thought kinda vanished, leading to one where my mind kept trying to convince me Ellie was actually cute.

I hated that thought.

"Finally," I said, sighing. "You take a long time to get ready."

"It wouldn't have taken so long," Ellie growled, "if a certain perverted hit man hadn't been in the room at the time."

"Oh please. In order to be a pervert I would have had to have liked looking at your pathetic little body." Honestly, I have no idea where that came from. See, I have this nasty habit sometimes of saying things that pop into my head without thinking of how it would affect people around me. Or myself.

Ellie quickly opened the box again, grabbed when I assumed was a high-heeled shoe, and chucked it at my head.

I barely managed to dodge it.

"Hey," I protested, trying not to sound like a pathetic brat, "I speak nothing but the truth. Don't hurt the stupid shoes because you hate that I'm right."

She said nothing else, instead going to grab the shoe, then walked out of the room. I wanted to sigh, but figured if I did that she would hurt me again. My stupid stomach still felt like a knife had been jabbed into it, and of course, my head hurt from trying to figure out what these stupid feelings arising were.

"Look," Ellie said after we were in main room, "I don't want to deal with you. At all. I just want to get this over with so maybe your boss will kill me. I know this irritates you to, but you don't need to take it out on me."

"No. I do."

"Why?"

"No reason." I grabbed her bare shoulder, which was abnormally smooth, and steered her out of the room. "Now I have to warn you; you are going to be going outside. If you try to run, or scream, or do anything unnecessary, I won't hesitate to knock you out. I won't kill you, but you'll wake up with a nasty headache later on. Got it?"

When she nodded, I led her to the front door, then waited while she slipped her shoes on. The stupid things made her at least three inches taller, which didn't help at all with my attempts to intimidate her.

Annoying...

With a sigh, I opened the front door, watched her flinch at the sunlight streaming through, and finally the two of us walked outside.


	14. If I ever did that

**I really have to get back into posting stuff on here. I keep forgetting about it because I've been gone for so long. Though, I don't know why I'm posting on here since all the people who read this story are in my real life... eh. Oh well. Takes like two minutes.**

**Read and review please!**

**_Full chapter title: If I ever did that, I think I'd have a heart attack (Demi Lovato, Heart Attack)_**

* * *

><p>The bright light that streamed through the door bothered me. The room I'd been in had been dark and dreary; even when the blinds were drawn – which they rarely, if ever, were – the position of the room guaranteed there would be little to no sun light. But the front door had a direct view of the burning ball of gas in the sky, and when Riku opened the door, the light attacked my eyes without any restraint.<p>

I know he felt me flinch from the sudden burst of light; his hand still rested on my shoulder, keeping me from running away, and probably from falling over. Which I probably would. I hadn't eaten much in the past few days. Just enough to please Kairi, so I was rather weak at the moment.

So I know he felt the jerk, but he had no reaction to it. None at all. He just pulled me outside, probably not caring that I still couldn't see much, and practically shoved me down the flight of stairs. He'd been doing that a lot. Being all forceful.

I hated it so much. I just wanted to turn around and grab his head, bash it into the wall, then move on like nothing happened. I mean, pulling me out of bed was one thing, even pushing me back on the bed after I rather rudely kneed his stomach and pinning me there hadn't been that bad. But when he grabbed me, shoved me into the bathroom, then stripped me... that had gone too far, and I wish he could see that. Or maybe he could and he just didn't care.

Now, despite his forcefulness being only slightly bad, I was annoyed enough that it all seemed horrible. Even just the feel of his rather warm hand on my bare shoulder made me feel sick to my stomach. He needed to leave me alone.

Though, there was one nice thing about this ordeal; I was actually outside. The fresh air seemed to clear the small cloud that had invaded my conscience recently, the feel of the sun on my skin reminded me of all the times I ran during the summer as a child, and best of all, I thought for a minute I was actually free.

But no. I wasn't free. Riku still stood by me, and when my vision cleared, and I tried to pull away from him, he made sure I wouldn't be able to move on my own by grabbing my wrist and yanking me against his body.

What a jackass.

"I told you not to do anything stupid," he said. The hand on my shoulder tightened, causing me to let out a completely unnecessary and annoying squeak.

"I'm not doing anything stupid," I snapped back at him. "I just jerked because I hate your touch. It's painful. Got it?" I tried to pull away from him again, which only prompted him to stop moving and wrap his arm around my waist. His other hand had disappeared from my shoulder.

"Well get used to it, Princess. I'm not going to let you go until we get in the car. Orders are orders and I have to follow them," he whispered right next to my face. I could only shudder, feeling my face heat up. I'd never had a guy this close to me before.

All I could think to say way, "Stop calling me that." I hated that stupid little nickname. It didn't even make sense. Did I act spoiled and privileged in some way?

Riku let out a forced chortle and let me go, though his hand wrapped around my wrist again. I kept trying to pull away from him, but trying to do such a thing in heels, against someone who killed people for a living, wasn't easy.

"Let me ask you something," Riku said while we walked to the car. I didn't want to be asked anything, so I just kept my mouth shut. Apparently that isn't enough to tell someone I wanted to be left alone, because Riku continued. "Why do you act so tough? Why not just let all of this happen to you with your mouth closed. There's no need for you to be so vicious."

"Why do you care?"

Riku opened his mouth to speak, but closed it quite quickly when he clearly had nothing to say about the situation. Instead, he just shoved me to the car, eyes narrowed, and instructed me to get inside.

Slightly afraid of what he would do if I didn't obey, I opened the door and slid inside, hoping he wouldn't hurt me.

You know, if there's one thing the Strife family knows how to do, it's be lavish. They were taking me to the main house in a stretch limo, while I wore a fancy, clearly expensive dress that didn't exactly cover much of my body, and Riku didn't even seem bothered by any of this. It was like this entire thing was completely normal for him, and if anything else happened, he would be worried and confused.

"Move over," he growled after a few minutes of me just staring inside the limo. I'd never been in one before, so it surprised me a little. I flinched and scrambled to the back... er... the front of the car, before sitting down on one of the side seats. Riku shook his head then followed me in, placing himself in the back.

Half of me was glad he stayed away from me. Another half wished he'd come closer. I felt alone and slightly frightened. My body seemed to be craving another person's company, and Riku was the only other person in the car. Well, other than the driver, but he had the separation up and probably didn't even know who was back here. Or why.

The car started while we were in complete silence. I tried my best not to panic, while Riku just sat there, staring out the window. Well, mostly staring out the window. There were times when he would glance over at me quickly, then look away as though he hadn't done such a thing.

At first I figured he just wanted to make sure I wasn't doing anything stupid, but after about ten minutes of this happening, I became suspicious.

Earlier he basically called me pathetic and ugly, and yet he kept looking at me. In particular, at my chest, which wasn't really covered by the dress. Finally, the psychology part of me kicked in, having gone to sleep after Riku nearly died the second time, and I allowed myself a slightly vicious grin.

"Hey," I called out to him, adding a lilt to my voice that I didn't know I could add. He glanced at me, not really turning his head.

"What?"

"Do you think I'm pretty?" I asked, though I already knew the answer. He crossed his arms and looked away from me, clearly not wanting to answer. But I wanted an answer, and I would get it. "There's no reason not to answer. It's just the two of us in here. Who would I tell?" He continued to ignore me.

Frustrated, I narrowed my eyes, wanting him to actually talk to me about this.

"Come on, Riku," I said, surprised that his name actually came out. He seemed surprised at this too, as he chanced a look in my direction. The look only lasted a second, though, and he moved his head away again. "Just answer my question. It's not hard. You think I'm pretty, don't you? That's why you keep looking over at me. That's why you were so willing to be in the room with me when I changed. Why you tried to make fun of me when I called you a pervert."

A lot of things were starting to make sense. Like, how he acted around me, the fact that he constantly touched me, and so on.

He didn't hate me. He actually wanted me.

"Why won't you just answer the damn question?"

At this he turned fully to look at me, eyes locking with mine. They had this look to them that startled me, and I pressed against my seat, trying to escape. A faint line of pink lined his cheeks, though I'd been expecting that.

"So what if I do think that?" he growled. "Does it matter? Dress anything up in nice clothes and they can look good. It just means I'm a guy." The harshness of his answer surprised me enough that I decided to drop the subject. Or, I had plans to drop the subject. Until he reached into the box, which I hadn't noticed, pulled out the shawl I'd ignored back in the bathroom and chucked it at me. "Put this on."

The shawl hit me in the face, and I caught it, looking at it with a little bit of confusion. He thought I was pretty only because I'd been dressed up, and yet he didn't want my shoulders to be exposed. He also didn't have a problem with this earlier. Either he was a hypocrite, or just didn't know his own feelings yet.

Probably both.

"Why?"

"Because..." I couldn't wait to hear his excuse. "It's March. It's going to be chilly later. You probably won't finish dinner with The Boss until later and by then it'll be really cold." I smirked, loving what he said, then slid down the seat toward him. He finally looked away from me, even when I moved from the side seat to the back, and scooted as close to him as I could without actually touching the guy.

"Are you _sure_ that's your reason?" I smirked when I saw his face darken a little. This was actually fun. I could see why he'd done it to me earlier. "You sure it's not because you don't want your uncle to see me in this dress? I know you think he's a pervert. I'm guessing you don't want him to have a chance to be like that around me."

Again, he ignored me.

"But why? Why do you care so much? I thought you hated me. You want me dead, don't you?"

"Yeah, I do want you dead. Actually, I want to kill you myself." He turned to face me, arms still crossed. Our faces were ridiculously close to each other. "But I'm an insane freak, remember? Insane freaks don't make sense. So stop asking me questions."

"It's fun to ask you questions," I told him, trying to keep myself calm. Being this close to him did weird things to me. "You have funny reactions. Some that make sense, and others that don't. I want to know why you have them."

"And you think I'm a freak."

"I never said there's nothing wrong with me," I said calmly. "There are a lot of things wrong with me. But there are a lot of things wrong with you too, if you can justify killing someone enough to do it for a living."

"I don't justify anything. I just do what I'm told."

"You don't have to."

"Yeah I do."

"Who says?"  
>The subject had changed quickly. I'd gone from annoyed little girl who wanted this guy to have a taste of his own medicine, to therapist who wanted to help him do what was best for himself. He seemed to notice this, and he smirked.<p>

"None of your business," he said, pushing some of his hair out of his face. "You're nothing more than a hindrance who doesn't need to know anything. So move, please." I tried not to budge when his hand came to rest on my shoulder, and he shoved me a little bit.

"Apparently I'm not a hindrance," I said. "Apparently your boss finds me interesting, so stop-" I shoved his hand away, "-treating me as one and tell me what I want to know."

"No thanks."

"Do you know the meaning of the word stubborn?"

"Do you?" The two of us glared at each other for a time, neither one wanting to break the nasty silence. Breaking it would mean losing the battle, and I definitely didn't want that to happen. I hated this guy. He interested me, but I hated him more than anything.

He'd kidnapped me, nearly died, kept me from killing myself, hurt me, forced me to do horrible things, and worst of all, he didn't seem to care about how this affected me. It was like I was nothing more than a burden on his oh so horrible life.

Which, of course, I probably was.

Suddenly, the car jolted to the side, knocking me over, and I fell right into Riku's lap. Probably because of instinct, he grabbed me, holding me in place while the car turned.

"You okay?" he asked, looking down at me. At first I couldn't move, both the shock and the gaze he held keeping me in place. When his hands removed themselves from my body, however, I jumped back into the seat beside him, tempted to go back to where I originally sat. At least there something like that couldn't happen.

"Fine." My voice came out in almost a whisper.

"Good."

The silence continued for a minute or so after that little incident, but I decided I needed to know something.

Riku's actions were so inconsistent. One moment he wanted me dead. He would be rude to me, violent, and uncaring. But that little shell would crack sometimes and he would be kind. Ask me if I was okay.

Save me from killing myself.

Even at the risk of his own life.

He still kept glancing at me every few seconds, like before.

I didn't get what was going on in his head.

"What do you want with me?" I finally asked, sitting up completely straight. No reaction came from his side of the seat. "Hey," I snapped, grabbing his arm to turn him around. "I asked you a question. What the hell do you want with me?"

"I don't know what you mean by that," he snapped back.

"I mean that you're so weird when it comes to dealing with me. Sometimes you act like you hate me. Sometimes you act like you want to protect me. Which is it? You were so violent with me earlier, but just then you were gentle. I've talked to you only a few times, but every time has been different." I took a deep breath when he began staring at me. I could sense fear coming from him.

"I don't get you at all. I saw you kill someone. You wanted to kill me from the moment I woke up in that van. Probably before. But you didn't let me die. You've threatened me, but when push comes to shove, you probably won't do anything. I don't get it, but I want to." I moved a little closer to him. Our bodies nearly touched now. "So tell me, Riku, what do you want with me? How do you feel about me? Why are you so damn inconsistent with the way you treat me?"

I thought for a moment he would murder me right then and there. I could see the gun hidden under his jacket, though I'm sure he tried to hide it from me. The limo driver probably worked for the family, so they wouldn't do anything if Riku killed me then.

I'm sure his boss wouldn't be happy, but then again, I know nothing about this family so I can't really say.

"It's you," he said slowly, taking his sweet time.

"What do you mean, it's me?" To be honest, I didn't want to deal with any nonsense. I just wanted him to tell me what was one his mind so I could move on with my life and just deal with it. This stupid thing would bug me to no end if I didn't get an answer.

The look in his eye softened for a moment, like the first time we'd talked.

"You remind me of someone I used to know. But you're the reason I messed up. I want to hate you, but I can't."


End file.
